Contents > Recreation and Toursim Studies, Master’s Program
Recreation and Tourism Studies
Rhonda Phillips, Director, School of Community Resources and Development
Victor B. Teye, Graduate Coordinator
Allison, Andereck, Gitelson, Knopf, Phillips, Tyrrell, Yoshioka
Ashcraft, Hultsman, Teye, Timothy, Virden
Autry, Budruk, Chhabra, Guo, Ho, Jones, Nyaupane, White
The faculty in the School of Community Resources and Development (Downtown Phoenix campus) and the faculty in the Department of Recreation and Tourism Management (West campus) jointly offer a program leading to the MS degree in Recreation and Tourism Studies. 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.
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 Graduate College 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.
Completion of the MS degree in Recreation and Tourism Studies 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.
REC 552 Critical Issues in Recreation and Tourism (3)
REC 555 Social Scientific Perspectives in Recreation and Tourism (3)
Introductory statistics (500-level) (3)
Total minimum semester hours required 30
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.
REC 501 Program Evaluation and Information Management (3)
REC 530 Recreation and Tourism Service Management (3)
REC 552 Critical Issues in Recreation and Tourism (3)
REC 555 Social Scientific Perspectives in Recreation and Tourism (3)
Introductory statistics (500-level) (3)
Total minimum semester hours required 36
A final oral examination in defense of the thesis or a practicum is required.
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.
Courses
Information about all courses is available on the Web at ASU Interactive. For more information, see Classification of Courses.