Leisure Services Management

Amy R. Hurd, PhD, CPRE, is the director of the Illinois State University Graduate School 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 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 the department chair and as an associate professor in the department of recreation management and policy at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). Barcelona's research and writing interests focus on the intersection of sport and physical activity, positive youth development, and community recreation management, with a focus on improving access to active recreation and sport opportunities. He is also interested in training and professional development in the recreation and sport fields, particularly in community and campus recreation organizations.

Barcelona teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses focusing on management and leadership, research methods, strategic and master planning, program evaluation, youth development, and recreational sport management. He also works closely with community recreation and sport organizations on issues pertaining to master planning, strategic planning, and program evaluation. Barcelona worked as a practitioner in intercollegiate athletics and campus recreation. He has been on the faculty at Indiana University, Clemson University, and UNH, and he frequently teaches online courses in the distance education program at North Carolina State University.

Jo An M. Zimmermann, PhD, CPRP, is an associate professor and the undergraduate coordinator in the recreation administration program at Texas State University within the department of health and human performance. 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 manager for the park district of Oak Park, Illinois, and as a recreation supervisor for the park district of Morton Grove, Illinois. She has presented and written on management and administrative roles in parks and recreation, including authoring chapters in textbooks. Zimmermann is a visiting professor at Beijing Sport University in Beijing, China, and has led students on study-abroad experiences in Australia. She is a regular presenter at the Texas Recreation and Park Society Annual Institute and is a co-convener of the Leisure Management Special Interest Group (SIG) for the World Leisure Organization.

Janet Ready, MA, received her masters degree in leisure studies from the University of Victoria and teaches in the recreation studies department of Langara College in Vancouver, British Columbia. Ready started her recreation career with the City of Burnaby parks, recreation, and cultural services department and worked in public recreation for over a decade prior to teaching. She has also guided hiking programs with Metro Vancouver and was a snowshoe guide at Mt. Seymour.

Ready is a past member of the Boys and Girls Club program committee and served as a director on the British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association board. She is passionate about connecting recreation theory to practice and works on applied research projects that support people working in the recreation field. She has presented at recreation conferences locally and nationally. In her free time, she mountain bikes, hikes, trail runs, does stand-up paddleboarding (with her dog Murphy), and volunteers on the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue team.