American University

Dr. Robert Karch, a 2007 inductee into the AU Athletics Stafford H. "Pop" Cassell Hall of Fame, serves as the department's Faculty Athletics Representative.

Karch, who coached the AU wrestling team from 1970-1980, has been a member of American University faculty since 1969. He is a full professor in the School of Education, Teaching & Health. He is also the founder and director of both the Masters of Science program in Health Promotion Management and the University's National Center for Health Fitness. Karch received his doctorate from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1978. He also has a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland and a master's in physical education from American.

The University's National Center for Health Fitness has completed more than 30 million dollars of research and programmatic activities for Federal and Private sector organizations. Karch has won numerous awards including the Healthy American Fitness Leader Award, presented by the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the 1991 Exceptions Leadership Award from the Association for Fitness in Business, and was the ???????first recipient of the U.S. Army’s Commanders Award in 1983 for his extensive programmatic and research work with U.S. Army’s Health Promotion and Fitness programs. Karch has also served as a board member for the American Council on Exercise.

Karch is the author or co-author of more than 30 articles for research and lay publications, several book chapters, and has co-authored a text, Health Promotion – Global Perspectives, an edited text that provides extensive details concerning the operation of Health Promotion Programs in twenty countries throughout the world.