Of all the classes he's taught during his 28 years at Southwestern, Dan Hilliard's favorite is titled "The Sociology of Sport." This should be no surprise to those who are familiar with his extensive research on the subject.

"I believe that students appreciate professors bringing their research into class," he says. "Sport is something most people have an interest in or at least an awareness of, and while many tend to think of sports as a separate world, it is strongly connected to the major institutions and social patterns of our society."

Hilliard says he's always had an interest in sportsas a competitor, observer and researcher. Growing up, he played football and baseball, although he is quick to point out with a smile "never at an elite level." While as an undergraduate student at Rice University he started playing rugby, which became a passion of his for the next 15 years. He later took up distance running and competed in triathlons and marathons.

His current research, which he's worked on for nearly a decade, focuses on youth exercise and obesity in Williamson County. "The youth obesity rate in this county is actually worse than the national average. And as kids get older, exercise and eating habits get even worse.

"So this spring, along with my medical sociology class, we're going to do a focus group with high school seniors looking at how food and exercise play into their daily routine. We want to get an idea of what they think about it and how to potentially create some kind of intervention program."

The medical sociology class was one of the first new courses he helped develop when he joined Southwestern in fall of 1974. At the time, there was only one other sociologist on the faculty, and Hilliard had completed all but his dissertation at the University of Texas.

"I had it in my mind while in graduate school that I would like to teach at an institution that valued teaching. When the job at Southwestern came open, it seemed like a good opportunity because positions at smaller schools are hard to find."

Of course, he had no idea he would still be teaching here three decades later. "Southwestern has changed substantially, which has allowed me to grow intellectually and professionally without leaving."

Hilliard is a member of the American Sociological Association, the Southwestern Social Science Association and the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport. He currently is serving on Southwestern's Curriculum Review Committee, marking the first time the school has conducted a serious examination of the curriculum in the past twenty years. "It's pretty intense and controversial," he says.

A bass guitarist, he plays in a band called the Post Hole Diggers (Ph.Ds) along with other Southwestern faculty. He also serves on the board of Georgetown's Meals on Wheels program, which he helped start in the late 1970s. Hilliard lives in rural Williamson County with his spouse, Julie, who is pursuing graduate studies in music at The University of Nevada, Las Vegas. They have several dogs, including a bulldog named Buster Brown that serves as Hilliard's fishing companion, two horses and a donkey named Bubba.