Emily is a New Orleans native with a large family that she visits often. She earned a kinesiology degree from Penn State University and worked as a personal trainer and performance coach for many years before returning to school. While in graduate school at UCCS, she worked as the strength and conditioning coach for several of the athletic programs. It was in grad school that she decided to pivot her focus away from performance science and instead focus on social issues within sport, with a particular interest in gender inequities. She then earned a PhD in Educational Leadership, Research, and Policy at UCCS. Her dissertation interrogated the framing and discourse of the anti-trans state sport bans across the US. 
 

Kulakowski, E. [Dissertation] (2024). The Fairness Fallacy: A Policy Discourse Analysis of US State Anti-Trans Sport Bans.

Kulakowski, E. & Fuselier, N. (2024) Queer Collegiate Student Athletes in Herridge, A. & Prieto, K. (Eds) Perspectives on Transforming Higher Education and the LGBTQIA Student Experience.  

Kirby, J.B., Lindsay, K.G., Visscher, L., Townsend, R., Stellino, M.B., & Kulakowski, E. (2024). Impact of a peer-led campus recreation program to improve student well-being: Exploring participation outcomes of the Fitness Buddies program. Recreational Sports Journal. Advanced online publication.

Kulakowski, E. (2023, November 1-4). Policy Analysis of Anti-Trans Sports Bans. NASSS Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana.  

Visscher, L., Kulakowski, E., Townsend, R., Kirby, J.B., Lindsay, K., & Babkes Stellino, M. (2021). Mountain Lions on the Move: A mixed methods case study of psychological well-being and basic psychological needs satisfaction in university students participating in a peer-led physical activity program before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. UCCS Mountain Lion Research Day Poster Session, December 2021.

Kulakowski, E.; Lockie, R.G.; Johnson, Q.; Lindsay, K.G.; Dawes, J.J. (2020). Relationships of Lower-body Power Measures to Sprint and Change of Direction Speed among NCAA Division II Women’s Lacrosse Players. International Journal of Exercise Science.