Biography:

Dr. Hardy is a Professor and the Founding Dean of the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health at Georgia Southern University. Prior to this appointment, Professor Hardy served as the Dean of the Jack N. Averitt College of Graduate Studies from 2002-2005, Associate Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences during 2001-2002 and as the Chair of the Department of Health and Kinesiology from 1994-2001. His previous academic appointment was at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science from 1984-1994.

Dr. Hardy received his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in Kinesiology/Psychology and was a post doctoral research fellow in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His doctoral dissertation was selected as the Most Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation by Phi Delta Kappa, Louisiana State University, and the Sport Psychology Academy of the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. He also holds a M.S. from The University of Tennessee at Knoxville in Exercise Science and a B.S. from East Carolina University in Health and Physical Education.

Dr. Hardy’s research focuses on the role of social influence processes in health and human performance. He has published and presented his research and work at regional, national, and international outlets. In the summer of 1988 he was a visiting scientist at the Olympic Training Center at Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1989 he received the Edgar W. Hooks Jr. Young Professional Award from the North Carolina Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. In 1992, Dr. Hardy was a Visiting Principal Fellow at the University of Wollongong, Australia.

Dr. Hardy has served as a reviewer for the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, and has been a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, The Sport Psychologist, and The Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. He has served as the editor of the Sport Psychologist's Digest of The Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology and as the editor of the psychology section of Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport.

Dr. Hardy is or has been a member of Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity, Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Fraternity, American Psychological Association, the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, the Georgia Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, the American Public Health Association, the Georgia Public Health Association, and the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology. He is a Fellow in the Research Consortium of the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and in the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology. Dr. Hardy has served as the President, Publications/Membership Director and Chair of the Continuing Education Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology.

As the Chair of the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Georgia Southern University he facilitated the development of the Masters of Public Health and the Masters of Health Services Administration. In his role as the Associate Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences he assisted with the development of research and service centers and an increase in grant and contract activity for the College. During his tenure as the Dean of the Jack N. Averitt College of Graduate Studies, Dr. Hardy facilitated the development of new graduate programs, including the Doctor of Psychology, the Master of Arts in Teaching, the Master of Arts in Social Science, the Master of Music Technology, the Master of Forensic Accounting, and the Master of Science in Spanish. He also facilitated the development of an enhanced graduate admission processing model, the adoption of the Electronic Dissertation and Thesis model, the development of the Georgia Southern University Research and Service Foundation, the reorganization of the Office of Research Services and Sponsored Programs, and the development of an external advisory board for the College of Graduate Studies.

Dr. Hardy enjoys reading, cooking, travel, hiking, golf and spending time with his family. He is honored to have been selected to serve as the Founding Dean of the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health at Georgia Southern University (01/03/06).