Gina Harmston

Faculty Coordinator, Teaching and Learning

Gina Harmston is a Faculty Coordinator for the Faculty Development Center, specializing in Teaching.

Gina’s passion for teaching began when she was a teenager coaching gymnastics. She taught gymnastics for 10 years to children, helping them to develop their skills and love for the sport. During this time, her young gymnasts taught her to be flexible, versatile, patient, creative, and adaptable, because every child needs a slightly different method to succeed. Her young gymnasts’ desire to have fun in everything they do influenced Gina with her philosophy on how she wanted to teach.

Gina earned her degrees from California State University, Fullerton in Kinesiology with a concentration in Sport Psychology. Her research during her graduate degree focused on children’s enjoyment in physical activity and sport. Her studies in sport psychology focused on learning how people are motivated to move, be active, and find their inner passion for their personal path. While completing her coursework, Gina was inspired by many of her professors, learning many pedagogical methodologies.

After graduating, Gina was asked to return to CSUF to teach courses in the Kinesiology and Health Science departments. Over the years in the Kinesiology department, Gina’s courses have focused on the career paths of Kinesiology, physical activity, and health. Gina’s courses in the Health Science department have focused on stress management, which allows her to apply her knowledge from her sport psychology degree.

Gina’s teaching experience at CSUF has included courses that were in the classroom, online, large and small classes, multi-day and single day classes, giving her experience in a variety of class structures. Her focus with her students is to teach them how healthy lifestyles and stress management influences their daily lives, and how stress management techniques are immediately applicable.

Gina focuses her workshops for the FDC on teaching techniques and student engagement, while including evidence-based high-impact practices to benefit her students’ learning and overall experience in the classroom. Gina’s teaching philosophy is to always strive to get better, while using what has been proven to work in the classroom, with a driving force that learning should be fun. As teachers, there can be many methods to get the same result. It is up to each individual to find their own path to get there. Gina brings these ideas into her workshops, with her main goal being to expose others to various student engagement techniques, allowing them to consider how they can improve their teaching and their students’ learning experience.