2023 Lindback Winner - Leslie Spencer

Leslie Spencer earned a PhD in Health Education from Temple University in the spring of 1995 and started her academic career at Rowan University the fall of the same year. In 2017, she became a National Board-Certified Wellness Coach through the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaches. She is the faculty coordinator of four academic programs at the University: the B.S. in Public Health and Wellness, the B.A. in Wellness Management, the M.A. in Wellness and Lifestyle Management, and the Certificate of Graduate Study in Wellness Coaching. Her research interests are in two primary areas: 1) Motivational Interviewing, wellness coaching and behavior change and 2) Improving wellness for people with disabilities, particularly those that are intellectual or developmental in nature.

Since 2008, she has served as the Director of Get FIT @ Rowan, a fitness and nutrition intervention for adults with disabilities that serves approximately 65 clients with disabilities and utilizes over 100 Rowan students as volunteer trainers each year. She is currently leading a project to create and sustain inclusive community gardens and group home gardens in four South Jersey counties. In 2020, Dr. Spencer launched Snack, Chat & Chill, a virtual program for people with disabilities that provides socialization, relaxation, and an opportunity to make and enjoy a healthy snack. Dr. Spencer is also the Lead Trainer of the Student Success Coaching program in partnership with Student Support Services at the University, in which Rowan staff and students are trained to use Motivational Interviewing strategies to coach undergraduate students who are academically at-risk. Dr. Spencer has been awarded funding from the Horizon Foundation, New Jersey Health Initiatives, the NJ Division of Disability Services and the South Jersey Institute for Population Health to support these programs.

Dr. Spencer has developed and taught courses at the undergraduate and graduate level, both in person and online. She developed and taught an Honors course and more recently developed and currently teaches a Writing Intensive course. Dr. Spencer led her first Study Abroad course in the spring 2022 semester and has two more planned for the future, including a 5-week internship in London with a community agency serving at-risk youth.

Dr. Spencer is the founding advisor of the Rowan Chapter of the National Wellness Institute, a student club promoting wellness among future health professionals.

She and her husband, Stuart, are the parents of two young adult sons. At home, she is the coordinator of a church-based cooperative garden with a mission of serving food-insecure people in her hometown 

Updated 4/10/23