Professors

Allison, Tyrrell, Yoshioka

Associate Professors

Ashcraft, Teye, Timothy, Virden

Assistant Professors

Budruk, Chhabra, Guo, Jones, Nyaupane, White

Lecturer

Barry

Master of Science

The faculty in the School of Community Resources and Development offer a program leading to the MS degree in Recreation. The MS degree program prepares students to analyze and understand critical topics and issues pertinent to the field of community resources and development.

Students choose between two academic options: the thesis or the professional option.

Admission

Students applying to the MS program must have achieved a GPA of 3.00 or the equivalent in the last two years of work leading to the bachelor’s degree. Applicants should submit their application, application fee, all undergraduate transcripts, Graduate Record Examination (or Miller’s Analogy Test) scores, a statement of professional and academic goals, and three letters of recommendation to the Division of Graduate Studies by February 1 to be considered for fall admission. Only complete application files are reviewed or considered for admission. Students without undergraduate academic work in the recreation/tourism disciplines are required to take six semester hours of deficiency course work in addition to the MS degree requirements. Deficiency course work may be taken in conjunction with MS degree classes.

Program of Study

Completion of the MS degree in Recreation on the average requires approximately two years of study. Students may select a thesis or professional option. The thesis option is a research-oriented degree and is recommended for students planning to continue graduate studies beyond the master’s degree. The professional option is intended for students seeking additional knowledge and expertise relevant to professional career development. Advising and direction in both options are under the direct supervision of an assigned faculty member.

Program Requirements: Thesis Option

The thesis option consists of a minimum of 30 semester hours. The 30 semester hours include six hours of thesis (REC 599), which must be defended in an oral examination before a supervisory committee of at least three faculty members, one of which resides in another department.

Program Requirements: Professional Option

The professional option consists of 36 semester hours, including six hours of practicum (REC 580). A signed affiliation agreement is required to be on file with the graduate coordinator before registration. The purpose of the 300-hour practicum is to provide graduate students with in-depth agency-based professional experiences. The student committee consists of two school faculty members and one community/agency professional. At the end of the practicum, the student is required to submit a written description and analysis of the project and to present the results to the committee.

Foreign Language Requirements

None.

Thesis Requirements

A thesis is an option.

Final Examination

A final oral examination in defense of the thesis or a practicum is required.

Research Activity

The study of recreation, tourism, and community development is a multidisciplinary field of research, scholarship, and program development. Recent scholarly activity of school faculty and students reflects this approach. Major research areas include the following: international travel and tourism; philosophy of leisure; recreation resource planning; social and psychological analyses of leisure behavior; leisure and youth development; travel and tourism policy and planning; urban recreation administration; outdoor recreation and wilderness management; cross-cultural analysis of play and leisure; gender differences in leisure behavior patterns; and nonprofit agency leadership/management. For more information, access the school’s Web site at scrd.asu.edu/grad.

Omnibus Courses. For an explanation of courses offered but not specifically listed in this catalog, see Omnibus Courses.