DESIRE2MOVE©
This year 17 departments and 236 employees participated in the 12th annual D2M Physical Activity Challenge. After 8-weeks of recording their minutes of physical activity, the team from Kinesiology and Health-Downtown won the Golden Shoe Trophy. Scroll down to read more about the 2025 results.
Now, more than ever, it is important for us to be physically active. Physical activity is an effective way to manage symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression, it improves our immune system, and it can be safely done in many settings. Please consider joining D2M so you can experience the benefits of physical activity in a socially supportive community. If you think your department is up to the challenge, please contact, Dr. Rebecca Ellis, Program Coordinator.
What is Desire2Move?
D2M is an eHealth, team-based physical activity challenge between university departments.
Each department competes as a team and will select a team captain. Each team member logs their physical activity minutes using free mobile apps (or websites) for eight weeks.
The team with the greatest average minutes at the end of the 8-week challenge wins the Golden Shoe Trophy.
For more information please contact, Dr. Rebecca Ellis, Program Coordinator.
Desire2Move Information
- D2M begins in early February and continues for eight weeks.
- Online registration opens in early January and continues until the beginning of the program.
- Use one of the free mobile apps to track your minutes of physical activity during the challenge
Physical activity is any intentional body movement that works your muscles and requires more energy than resting. Examples include walking the dog, jogging, golf, tennis, yoga, calisthenics, weight training, housework, yard work and so much more.- Although current guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, any amount of any intensity of physical activity will count towards your team’s D2M minutes.
- For our beginning participants, during the first four weeks of the challenge, your minutes will be doubled.
- D2M is a convenient and easy way to be physically active and improve your physical and mental health.
- Tracking your physical activity during D2M can help you earn well-being credits with OneUSG. Click “Manage My Benefits” and login with your campus ID and password. At the top of the page, click “Other Benefits” and select “USG Well-being”. Under Resources, look for information about 2024 well-being credits.
- “Beginners” will be eligible for individualized health coaching.
- All participants will be eligible to earn great prizes. Prizes from previous years have included resistance bands, FitBits, and Amazon gift cards.
Please visit the D2M YouTube Channel or refer to the written instructions below for step-by-step instructions for getting started with MapMyFitness or Strava.
Georgia State University Resources
Employee Development and Wellness Services (EDWS)
The EDWS hosts daily, weekly, and monthly activities on fitness, mental health, and nutrition.
- EDWS website
- Wellness Calendar
- Phone Number: 404-413-3342
Panther PERQs:
- Partnerships with local, statewide, and national businesses that offer incentives to Georgia State employees
- Visit Panther PERQs for more information
Mental Health Program:
- Therapy Assistance online
- On-campus: EDWS (Employee Development and Wellness Services)-email request for one-on-one counseling to [email protected]
- Off-campus: ESPYR password = USGCARES
Student Recreation Center Membership Information
- Faculty, staff, and retirees can join the Student Recreation Center for $252 x year or $84 x semester (~ $21 x month; payroll deduction).
- Faculty, staff can pay $5 for a daily pass. Personal training and nutritional consultations are available for an additional cost.
- Visit recreation.gsu.edu for more information
- Ellis, R., & Brown, C. (2023). Facilitating employee’s desire to move: A behavioral analysis using the COM-B model. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 57(Suppl. 1), S77. https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaad011
For more D2M and physical activity promotion research, please visit our Psychological Research on Exercise and Physical Activity Promotion (PREPP) Lab webpage. Coming Soon!
Previous Champions
This spring 17 departments and 236 employees participated in the 12th annual Desire2Move (D2M) Physical Activity Challenge. D2M is an 8-week, eHealth, team-based competition during which team members track their minutes of physical activity with mobile apps. The team with the greatest overall average minutes is the winner of the Golden Shoe Trophy.
The following 17 teams with team captains competed for the Golden Shoe Trophy:
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies – Avani Raval
Applied Linguistics and ESL – Chiho Young-Johnson
Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Online Education – Kim Manturuk
College of Education and Human Development Dean’s Office – Matt Gillett
College of Nursing and Health Professions – Anita Nucci
Communication Sciences and Disorders – Kelsey Wells
Early Childhood and Elementary Education – Margaret Lisi
Gerontology Institute – Brandi Moore
Kinesiology and Health Downtown – David Ferrer
Middle and Secondary Education – Xavier Mills
Nursing – Perimeter – Masiki Williamson
Office of Faculty Affairs – Reid Tankersley
Psychology – Mike Beran and Vonetta Dotson
Public Health – Raina Mitchell
Recreational Services – Jennifer Ibeanusi
University Housing – Jackie Jackson
University Library – Christina Gangwisch
The 2025 D2M Team Champion was Kinesiology and Health with 4217 minutes. Nursing Perimeter (4148 minutes) and College of Nursing and Health Professions (3712 minutes) finished second and third, respectively. Congratulations to KHD for defending their title and winning their 3rd D2M Team Championship! Each member of the KHD team received a $10 Amazon gift card.
2025 D2M winners
Congratulations to the winning team and to all the amazing competitors! We hope everyone stays well, keeps moving, and returns in 2026 for the 13th annual D2M Physical Activity Challenge.
Congratulations to the 2025 Most Valuable Beginner Participant, Helina Teklu (Andrew Young School of Policy Studies) who completed 5563 minutes of physical activity during the challenge. Other top minute earners in this category were Marcelle Angall-Leonce (Nursing-Perimeter; 4449 minutes) and Nancy Kropf (College of Nursing and Health Professions; 3874 minutes).
Congratulations also to the 2025 Most Valuable Participant, Bruna de Souza da Silva (College of Nursing and Health Professions) who completed 11,657 minutes of physical activity during the challenge. Other top minute earners in this category were Goncalo Monteiro (Andrew Young School of Policy Studies; 11,563 minutes) and Avani Raval (Andrew Young School of Policy Studies; 9502 minutes). Our MVPs each earned a $50 Amazon gift card.
We also raffled off more gift cards among all our participants.
$25 Amazon Gift Card Winners
Onika Richards – Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
Sara Cushing – Applied Linguistics and ESL
Ryan Martin – College of Education and Human Development Dean’s Office
Anne Marie Schipani-McLaughlin – Public Health
$50 Amazon Gift Card Winners
Doug Gardenhire – College of Nursing and Health Professions
Reid Tankersley – Office of Faculty Affairs
$100 Amazon Gift Card Winner
Christina Zamon – University Library
We would also like to thank our student liaisons for their hard work and dedication to D2M:
*Graduated Spring/Summer 2025
| BS Exercise Science | BS Psychology |
| Aoi Bentley | Ali Maan |
| Anna Gay* | |
| Eddie Guerrero | |
| Michael Hall* | |
| Andre Hoilett | |
| Tiffany Ling* | |
| April Mitchell* | |
| April Mitchell* | |
| Alana Moore* | |
| Justin Nguyen | |
| Moises Pineda | |
| Kiana Zarrabi* |
- 2014: Kinesiology and Health
- 2015: Recreational Services
- 2016: Honors College
- 2017: Honors College
- 2018: Physical Therapy
- 2019: Physical Therapy
- 2020: Recreational Services
- 2021: Recreational Services
- 2022: Building Services
- 2023: Physical Therapy
- 2024: Kinesiology & Health
- 2025: Kinesiology and Health-Downtown
Content, components and the name Desire2Move (D2M)© are copyrighted by Rebecca Ellis, Ph.D., 2014.