![\"A](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/distefano-lindsay_UCH_2023-12-20_07-crop-1-231x300.jpg\")
Since joining UConn in 2009 as an assistant professor of kinesiology, she has built an exceptional career in teaching, research impact, community engagement, and institutional leadership. She earned tenure with promotion to associate professor in 2015 and promotion to full professor in 2021. She served as head of the Kinesiology Department from 2018-2023, during which the Ph.D. program was ranked in the top three programs in the country for Kinesiology. She also holds affiliate appointments in the departments of Public Health Sciences and Orthopedic Surgery at the UConn School of Medicine.<\/p>\n
Throughout her work in the OVPR, Lindsay has played a pivotal role in stabilizing UConn’s research enterprise in a time of unprecedented turbulence. Amid significant changes in federal research funding and agency priorities, she led the development of programs to support researchers facing funding disruptions, helped faculty secure prestigious grants, and is launching a program to connect faculty with industry partners to expand opportunities for research support. She was instrumental in securing major state funding to support faculty and research programs severely affected by changes in federal funding.<\/p>\n
She has prioritized collaborative action and communication as key to moving research forward amidst disruptions. To that end, she has made a point of engaging researchers across disciplines, recognizing that different disciplines require different kinds of support. She has worked closely with colleagues at all UConn’s campuses to address immediate challenges while advancing shared research goals. She has created opportunities for researchers to meet, exchange ideas, and build collaborations; she also reestablished the Research Advisory Council and worked closely with university research leaders to support the research community. UConn colleagues have communicated to me their appreciation for her efforts, which have been highly effective in bringing the UConn community together to advance our research mission.<\/p>\n
Lindsay is a highly respected and productive researcher in kinesiology where she has made significant contributions to promoting healthy physical activity in children. She has published over 100 refereed journal articles and served on several grant review and editorial board committees. She has been funded during her UConn tenure by federal agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n
Her research on physical activity in children has led to positive community impacts with Husky Nutrition and Sport. She recently secured a new award from NIH that will provide up to $5.5 million over six years to support a national clinical trial titled \u201cRemain in the Game: Dissemination of Primary Prevention to Keep Children Physically Active for Life.\u201d The project will evaluate a pragmatic approach to help high schools adopt evidence-based injury prevention programs that reduce sports injuries and support lifelong physical activity.<\/p>\n
Lindsay\u2019s rare and exceptional record of impactful research and teaching, broad knowledge of the federal funding landscape, commitment to community engagement and service, and proven academic leadership make her uniquely qualified to serve as vice president for research. I look forward to working with her and the OVPR team to build on the progress underway and support our faculty, staff, and students in advancing UConn\u2019s research mission. Please join me in congratulating Lindsay on her appointment.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Pamir Alpay
\nProvost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DiStefano was named interim vice president in October 2025 after serving as associate vice president for research development since 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":252045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2712],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2162],"class_list":["post-254280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-success"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-21 17:25:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254281,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254280\/revisions\/254281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/252045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254280"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=254280"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=254280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}