• Dr. Doris R. Corbett-Johnson Leaders for Our Future Award; Recognizes young SHAPE America members who have demonstrated outstanding potential in scholarship, teaching, and/or professional leadership. Awarded at the SHAPE America National Convention; Cleveland, OH, 2024.
• SHAPE America Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program Innovative Paper Award. Awarded at the SHAPE America National Convention; Seattle, WA, 2023

Dr. Chris Merica is an Assistant Professor at the University of Idaho within the Physical Education Teacher Education program. Dr. Merica's previous work experience includes two years as an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina – Wilmington. Prior to that he was a high school Physical Education Teacher, Coach and Athletic Director at Sidney High School in Montana.  He earned his BS Physical Education, MEd Physical Education and PhD Education from the University of Idaho. His instructional work focuses on the development of exceptional physical educators and for them to be lifelong advocates of physical activity and health, and effective pedagogical modeling and providing rich authentic experiences for students. His scholarly work is focused within the Whole School, Community and Child framework, where physical activity and fitness engagement, leadership and programming are of specific priority and focus.

Research agenda focuses on the Whole School, Whole Community, and Whole Child approaches specifically within:

• Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) training and involvement
• Community and school-based physical activity and health programs
• Physical activity leadership preparation of pre-service health and physical education teachers

Teaching philosophy focused on developing preservice teacher cognitive and pedagogical knowledge bases, and pedagogical content knowledge skills to be quality health educators and physical educators, and lifelong advocates of physical activity and health.

• Model effective and appropriate instructional strategies, teaching models, and curriculum development practices
• Provide extensive practicum and authentic learning experiences for preservice teachers in K-12 schools
• Initiate opportunities for students to promote and lead physical activity outside of physical education classrooms

• Merica, C.B., Egan, C.A., Webster, C.A., Kern, B., Orendorff, K., Simonton, K. (2024). “We can do this”: Physical educators’ role breadth self-efficacy to be involved with CSPAPs from an occupational socialization perspective. European Physical Education Review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336X241254738
• Merica, C.B., Egan, C.A., Orendorff, K.L., McKown, H.B. (2024). CSPAP implementation during student teaching: Lessons learned from the field. The Physical Educator, 80(1), 1-28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18666/TPE-2024-V81-I1-11238
• Merica, C.B. & Weber, J. (2024). Designing appropriate warmups and fitness progressions in secondary physical education: The fitness bucket approach. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, 95(7), 15-23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2024.2370784
• Merica, C.B. (2024). As youth sport coaches take to the sidelines, important pedagogical practices to remember. Strategies: A Journal for Sport and Physical Educators, 37(3), 3-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08924562.2024.2323458
• Merica, C.B., Egan, C.A., Webster, C.A., Mindrila, D., Goc Karp, G., Paul, D., Orendorff, K. (2022). Association of physical educators’ socialization experiences and confidence with respect to comprehensive school physical activity program implementation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Invited Publication for Special Issue), 19(19), 12005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912005
• Playing with Research in Physical Education and Health Podcast (February 2024). Invited interview for the podcast series, “The Dissertation Dive.”
  URL: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5RrecCwqIwHY3dNlx1zBMs?si=M1tSO3nfQQSJk0VcUQ-4fg