The Future of Leisure Studies in Research Universities

Abstract

This article summarizes the content of a three-day administrative summit held at Zion Ponderosa Resort in southern Utah in late September 2010. Department chairs, heads, and deans representing 13 universities across North America offering leisure studies doctoral degrees, master's degrees, and undergraduate professional preparation degrees gathered to entertain eight multifaceted questions pertaining to their future. The questions were generated by a Delphi Process, and responses to the questions were recorded and analyzed following the summit by a team of doctoral students and professors from the University of Utah. The article concludes with a brief discussion of an administrator's responsibility in leading leisure studies departments in times of fiscal austerity, and recommending a Ȝto-doȝ list to ensure the future of leisure studies in public research universities.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic mission
• change
• collaboration
• collective identity
• money

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel Dustin

All authors are in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah.

Rachel Collins

All authors are in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah.

Jeremy Schultz

All authors are in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah.

Laurie Browne

All authors are in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah.

Keri Schwab

All authors are in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah.

Jeff Rose

All authors are in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah.

Danielle Timmerman

All authors are in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah.

Ben Altschuler

All authors are in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah.

Jeremy Jostad

All authors are in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah.

Callie Spencer

All authors are in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah.

Jackie Newman

All authors are in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah.

Kelly Bricker

All authors are in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah.