Dr. M. Joan Popp

Dr. M. Joan Popp retired from the Department of Physical Education at NIU in 1995, after thirty-six years of service. She was a native of Middletown, Ohio, as were her parents, grandparents, and her maternal great-grandparents. She has B.S. in education with a double major in physical education/dance and zoology at Miami (Ohio) University, a M.A. from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, with an emphasis in body mechanics and kinesiology. To be able afford college, Dr. Popp worked for a year after high school and worked at the university part-time and every summer until college graduation. In addition to teaching, she served on several committees and also president of the NIU Faculty Club and the Organization for Academic Women’s Equality. Two awards that are most cherished by Dr. Popp were given by her high school alma mater (Middletown High School) that invited her to deliver the baccalaureate address to the 1975 high school graduating class, and to be one of the twenty-one notable alumni to have a hallway named for them in the high school facility. Since retirement, she has served on the NIU annuitants Board as a director and president. Dr. Popp is on the board of the DeKalb Area Women’s Center and is a member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church.