Billye Ann Cheatum, class of ‘55. 1982 - Author, educator, and conference speaker
Billye Ann Cheatum, Ph.D. has devoted 30 years of her life to the needs of children
and adults with disabilities. Dr. Cheatum created and developed a specialty in her
field where none had existed before. "I began to think that surely there had to be
a way to include people with disabilities in physical education. But, of course, this
was before there was such a thing as special P.E.” She wrote a definitive text in
the field, Improving Physical Education Activities for Students With Disabilities,
as well as books on golf, basketball, and athletic training, and numerous articles
in all areas of physical education. Yet success for herself was not enough. Throughout
her career, she has received almost $2 million in federal grants, part of which she
used to establish SPELL (Special Physical Education Learning Laboratory). Located
at WMU, this lab offers no‑cost assessments of children and adults with special needs,
individualized treatment programs and follow‑up. Federal funds also assist in providing
laboratories for at‑risk infants and toddlers and children exposed to drugs in utero.
Her latest book, Activities for Improving Children's Learning and Behavior co-written
with Allison A. Hammond, was released in 1999. Dr. Cheatum has been widely sought
after as a speaker and as director of workshops. She received her Ph.D. in Physical
and Special Education from Texas Woman's University in 1965 and has worked at Western
Michigan University as an advisor of gerontology specialists, Coordinator of Special
Physical Education, Special Physical Education instructor, and director of three disability
laboratories. As a college student she was a standout in seven sports and won state
championships in synchronized swimming and archery.