James Padfield
Dr. Padfield's Summer Semester
James Padfield came to Truman State University in 1996 and teaches primarily
exercise Assessment and Prescription classes in the department and Leadership
Analysis courses for the Liberal Studies Program. Born in Salt Lake City, he
received his bachelor's degree in medical journalism and his master's degree in
exercise physiology from the University of Utah. He completed his doctorate at
the University of Missouri-Columbia, also in exercise physiology. A Fellow of
the Academy of Wilderness Medicine,
Dr. Padfield is a self-described "desert rat," pursuing such research interests
as the effect of heat, cold, and altitude upon performance, and the impact of
environmental conditions on decision-making and leadership (e.g., “heuristic
traps”). This allows him to consider his time riding a mountain bike or
whitewater rafting as scholarly pursuits, for, as he says, "the thinner the air,
the clearer the mind."
