Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies
The Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at Southern Connecticut State University offers a competency-based curriculum leading undergraduates to a B.S. in Recreation and Leisure Studies and graduates to M.S. degrees in Recreation Administration, Therapeutic Recreation, or College Teaching. It offers the only Recreation and Leisure Studies degree in the Connecticut State University System, and is the largest such department in the state serving annually, over 135 undergraduate majors, 130 non-majors (representing 30 departments), and 65 graduate students. The Department is committed to becoming the pre-eminent Recreation and Leisure Studies Department in New England.
Offering the only specialization in Therapeutic Recreation in Connecticut, the Department prepares students to become Certified Park and Recreation Professionals, and prepares students who choose for National Council for Therapeutic Recreation certification. A new specialization in Outdoor/Adventure Recreation has been developed.
The program’s majors enter the second largest industry in the American economy with administrative and motivational skills, research skills, and grant and proposal writing preparation. The Department’s strong community outreach has resulted in an array of varied settings across the region and country that are used for classroom projects and student internships. Students typically log over 30,000 community service hours annually. Examples of the community sites include, Anderson Boys and Girls Club, Watertown, CT, , Massachusetts Hospital School, Meriden, CT YMCA, Montana Conservation Corps, Neptune Naval Air Station, Brunswick, Maine, New Britain CT, and Rocky Hill, CT Parks and Recreation Departments, Via Rehabilitation Services, Santa Clara, California. Students are placed at many agencies that provide therapeutic recreation services: for example; West Haven Juvenile Justice Program, Sr. Anne Grimes Health Center, and the Kennedy Center for Special Needs, Bridgeport, and students have participated in the University’s Aphasia Clinic, guided and managed by the Department of Speech and Communication Disorders. The department has worked collaboratively with three New Haven school districts to develop transition services and school-wide behavioral support plans.
The Master of Science degree program in recreation and leisure studies is designed to prepare students for supervision, administration, and management of recreation programs and park facilities. The specialization program in recreation administration qualifies graduates for certification by the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA). The specialization program in therapeutic recreation can be designed to meet certification requirements of the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification (NCTRC).
The Department has five full-time faculty members and six adjuncts. The faculty has demonstrated strong research and service delivery interests. Research and publication interests center on developing student learning outcomes as a measure of effective teaching, recreation and the inclusion issues of persons with disabilities, outcome-based programming and community development, and outdoor rehabilitation programs for adjudicated youths.