Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, PhD

University of Illinois Urbana Champaign

Wojtek Chodzko‑Zajko earned a bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of London and a Ph.D. degree in Kinesiology from Purdue University.  Chodzko-Zajko’s primary research interests are in the area of aging and health. For many years he was the Head of the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health and the Shahid and Ann Carlson Khan Endowed Professor of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois.  For the past seven years, he has served as Dean of the Graduate College at the University of Illinois. 

In his role as Dean of the Graduate College, Chodzko-Zajko leads campus efforts in setting policies, defining standards, and enabling excellence in graduate programs, graduate research, and graduate student life. With graduate programs in more than 100 disciplinary areas, the Graduate College at the University of Illinois fosters a vibrant campus community of scholars. Graduate students and faculty at Illinois enjoy an intellectual environment that reaches across the Arts, Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Engineering to create, challenge, and transform knowledge. Chodzko-Zajko is the PI for the Sloan University Center of Exemplary Mentoring at Illinois which is one of eight UCEMs funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Illinois has received $3.9 million to assist in broadening underrepresented student participation in advanced engineering, physical and mathematical science careers, and to strengthen the talent pool in these fields while increasing equitable opportunities in the U.S. Illinois has increased enrolled PhD students in the Illinois UCEM from 54 students in AY17-18 to 123 in AY22-23.
 

In his professional life, Chodzko‑Zajko is active in the dissemination of information about healthy aging through his work on several major professional advisory boards.  Chodzko‑Zajko research focuses on public policy and public health recommendations related to physical activity and healthy living.  He served on the World Health Organization committee that developed the WHO Guidelines for Physical Activity among Older Persons. Chodzko-Zajko was the Principal Investigator for a series of projects charged with developing a national strategy for promoting healthy aging in the USA. The National Blueprint: Increasing Physical Activity among Adults Aged 50 and Older serves as a guide for multiple organizations, associations, and agencies, to inform and support their planning work related to increasing physical activity among America's aging population. Chodzko-Zajko chaired the writing group that authored the American College of Sports Medicine’s Position Stand on Physical Activity and Exercise for Older Adults.
 

Chodzko-Zajko was the founding Editor of the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity from 1992-2002.  He served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Council on Exercise and is a Past-President of the American Kinesiology Association. He currently serves as Past-President of the AAU Association of Graduate Schools and Chair of the ETS Graduate Education Advisory Council.