Michael W. Metzler is a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health at Georgia State University. From 2003 to 2008 he served as the associate dean for academic programs in the College of Education with responsibilities in the areas of program assessment, accreditation, and graduate research. He served concurrently as associate dean and chair of the KH department in 2004–2005.

Dr. Metzler holds a BA in English education from Tufts University, an MS in physical education from East Stroudsburg University, and a PhD degree from The Ohio State University in physical education and teacher education with a cognate in applied behavior analysis. His first higher education position was at Iowa State University, followed by thirteen years at Virginia Tech before moving to GSU in 1994.

His teaching expertise is in the areas of instructional models for physical education, research methods for teaching and teacher education, student teaching supervision, and the history and principles of physical education. His areas of research and scholarship are focused on various aspects of physical education and teacher education: research on teaching and instructional models; and research on teacher education programs, with an emphasis on program assessment.

Dr. Metzler has authored or co-authored nine books, most notably Instructional Models for Physical Education, now in its second edition, which has been translated into Korean. He has co-authored two research monographs in the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education (JTPE) and has published over thirty refereed research and topical articles in journals including JTPE, Journal of Teacher Education, and Quest.

He was one of the founding co-editors of JTPE in 1981, which is now the leading research journal in physical education teaching and teacher education. Dr. Metzler has served as a consultant or external reviewer for physical education teacher education programs in Singapore, Japan, Turkey, and Israel.