Aldo Leopold is widely regarded as one of the founders of the modern field of ecology. He was also a skilled woodsman, hunter, and a proponent of personal development through time in the outdoors. In this essay, we focus on how Leopold viewed certain benefits concomitant with immersive outdoor experiences. Guided by his 1943 essay, "The…

In this paper we discuss the intractability of the "great divide" between higher education and professional practice in parks, recreation, and tourism. We begin by drawing parallels between our field and other professional fields to demonstrate that the issue is not ours alone; indeed, it is common to most professional fields. We then…

Promotion with tenure is often the ultimate goal for PhD students who choose to pursue a career in higher education. Extensive mentorship is provided for tenure-track faculty to smooth the path toward promotion with tenure, but most faculty members achieve this goal relatively early in their careers, leaving years if not decades ahead in a tenured…

The history of parks and recreation is deeply rooted in child's play. From Joseph Lee's writings about the developmental benefits of child's play at the beginning of the 20th century to the establishment of the University of Illinois's Motor Performance and Play Research Laboratory in the 1960s and 1970s, child's play has been a central focus of…

The purpose of this study was to assess faculty perceptions of tenure in parks, recreation, and tourism. To answer our research questions, we designed a 26-item survey and posted it on The Academy of Leisure Sciences listserv (ALSnet). We received 149 usable responses to the survey and grouped the results into the categories of: earning tenure,…

To travel hopefully is to have faith that an investment today will pay dividends tomorrow. In this article, the authors discuss several different kinds of professional investments that have paid off for them throughout their academic careers. Some of these dividends are obvious. They can be measured in dollars and cents earned as a result of…

The integration of classroom learning with field experience provides students of recreation with an understanding of the applicability of their college course work to the problems facing recreation professionals. (JD)