Chip East Bio

For the past 23 years Dr. Whitfield B. East served as professor of discipline at the United States Military Academy – West Point and Research Physiologist at the U.S. Army Center for Initial Military Training, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, and is responsible for leading the analysis and development of physical fitness training efforts for the Army.  He is also part of the original Combined Army Center working group that developed the conceptual framework of the Holistic Health and Fitness system for the Army.

Whitfield B. East is a native of North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill where he earned a baccalaureate (1974) and masters (1976) degree.  In 1979 Dr. East earned a doctorate in kinesiology at the University of Georgia. He is married to Connie P. East and has four children and nine grandchildren.

Over a 40-year career in higher education and the Army, Dr. East served as an assistant/associate professor in the School of HPER at the University of Northern Iowa and as President of the Iowa Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance initiating the first Legislator’s Fitness Day.  From 1988-2000 he served as the Chair, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN where he was promoted to full professor where at the request of Governor Ned McWherter, he served on first Tennessee Governor’s Council for Physical Fitness and Sport and was instrumental in initiating the first Tennessee State Games.  From 2000-2013 Dr. East served as the Director of Instruction in the Department of Physical Education (DPE) at the United States Military Academy.  His primary accomplishment was the development of the Kinesiology major in DPE and was the team lead for the development of the Candidate Fitness Tests (CFA), the physical fitness assessment required of all cadet candidates attending U.S. Service Academies.  Since 2013 Dr. East has served on the research team that developed the Army Occupational Physical Fitness Test and was the principal investigator for the Army Baseline Soldier Physical Readiness Requirements Study (BSPRRS).  In 2021 Dr. East was awarded the status of Professor Emeritus at the United States Military Academy.

With over 30 scholarly publications and three book chapters, Dr. East published two books – the historical review of Army physical readiness training and assessment.  A Historical Review and Analysis of Army Physical Readiness Training and Assessment was published by the Combat Studies Institute in 2013 and Army Fit is scheduled to be published in 2023.