Emeritus
email: dselder@mail.sdsu.edu
Dennis J. Selder was born and raised in Canada. He received his B.P.E. (1962) and M.P.E. (1965) in Physical Education from the University of British Columbia. He came to the U.S. to further his education at The Ohio State University and attained his Ph.D. degree (1968) in Physical Education.
Dr. Selder was appointed as Assistant Professor of Physical Education at San Diego State College in 1968. His teaching areas included sport psychology, motor learning, growth and development, seminar, and physical activity classes (various sports). His research focused on sports psychology and the role of cognition in development of mental skills and motivation. His research was published as refereed journal articles, chapters in books, and abstracts of presentations at professional meetings. Refereed journals included the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, International Journal of Sport Psychology, Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, and The Physician and Sportsmedicine. Dennis is also the author of the book “Smart Skiing: Mental Training for All Ages and Levels of Skill”, published by Jossey-Bass in 1998.
Dennis was active in graduate research and was thesis advisor and mentor to many graduate students in Physical Education and Psychology. He also served graduate education by serving administratively as Assistant Dean of the Graduate Division and Research at SDSU from 1973 to 1975 and as acting Associate Dean of the Graduate Division from 1975 to 1977.
He has been a sought after consultant in the field of sports psychology, beyond his efforts at SDSU where he assisted athletes on various sports teams (track and field, cross county, tennis, gold, swimming, football, volleyball, etc.) He was contracted by the U.S. Navy Medical Research Center in San Diego to implement mental skills training for Navy Seal recruits. He was a consultant with the Mammoth Mountain Alpine Ski Team and with the U.S. Women’s Professional Volleyball pairs team.
Dennis was promoted to the rank of Professor and retired from SDSU in 2000 as Emeritus Professor of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences. He and his wife Frances live in La Mesa, CA, a suburb of San Diego.
