Leisure Services Management

Amy R. Hurd, PhD, CPRE, is the associate vice president of undergraduate education at Illinois State University and a professor of recreation and park administration within the School of Kinesiology and Recreation. While at Illinois State University, Hurd has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in management with an emphasis on marketing, human resources, and finance. Prior to coming to Illinois State University, she was a visiting lecturer in management at Indiana University, where she received her PhD.

As a practitioner, Hurd worked as the special events coordinator and as the marketing director for the Champaign Park District in Champaign, Illinois. She has presented on and written extensively about management, competencies, and succession planning in public parks and recreation, including authoring four textbooks. Hurd was a visiting scholar at Srinakharinwirot University (Bangkok, Thailand) in the subject area of sustainable tourism, and she traveled to Opole University of Technology (Opole, Poland) and the Universidad de Cuyo and Universidad de Mendoza in Mendoza, Argentina, for a student and faculty cultural immersion experience. She is a regular instructor for Indiana University’s executive development program, and she was elected to the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration in 2014.

Robert J. Barcelona, PhD, serves as department chair and a professor in the department of parks, recreation and tourism management at Clemson University. He previously served as the department chair in the department of recreation management and policy at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). Barcelona’s research and writing interests focus on increasing access to sport and recreation programs and facilities and on improving the quality of recreation experiences through partnerships, planning, creative financing, staff training, and professional development.

Barcelona teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses focusing on management and leadership, strategic planning, program evaluation, youth development, and recreational sport management. He also works closely with local and federal agencies on issues pertaining to research and program evaluation efforts. Barcelona currently serves as the chair of the Council on Accreditation for Parks, Recreation, Tourism and Related Professions (COAPRT), and he is the editor in chief of Recreational Sports Journal. In 2019, Barcelona was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration (AAPRA), where he serves as chair of the Research for the Profession Committee.

Jo An M. Zimmermann, PhD, CPRP, is an associate professor in the recreation studies program within the department of health and human performance at Texas State University. Zimmermann teaches undergraduate and graduate courses related to administration, finance, and marketing as well as the senior capstone course. Prior to coming to Texas State University, she was a senior lecturer in recreation management at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, as well as a visiting assistant professor in recreation administration at Clemson University, where she earned her PhD.

As a practitioner, Zimmermann worked as a recreation supervisor for the Morton Grove Park District and as a program manager at the Park District of Oak Park, both in Illinois. She has presented and written on management and administrative roles in parks and recreation, including authoring chapters in textbooks. Zimmermann has served as a visiting professor at Beijing Sport University in Beijing, China. She is a regular presenter at the Texas Recreation and Park Society Annual Institute and is a cochair of the Leisure Management Special Interest Group for the World Leisure Organization. In 2017, she was named Outstanding Educator of the Year by the Texas Recreation & Park Society. The following year, she received the Presidential Distinction Award for Teaching from the Texas State University College of Education.