Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies
Graduate Student Newsletter
Fall 2004

September 1, 2004

Dear Graduate Student:

Welcome back to SFSU and the fall semester! And a special welcome to all our new graduate students Kristen Hoeft, Roman Iacobucci, Lisa Katzman and any others who may have been admitted late. I hope you all had a good summer.

I want you to feel free to contact me as graduate coordinator for graduate program requirements and questions, or to say hello via phone (415) 338-1818 or by email ptierney@sfsu.edu or in my office HSS 309. You should see your advisor or the department website for career and course scheduling questions.

Our first department Graduate Program Student and Faculty Mixer was held August 26, 2004 and received great reviews from the twenty persons in attendance. It was a good chance for new and continuing graduate students to meet each other and faculty. We will carry-on this tradition in the future.

The proposal for discontinuance of our graduate program has been aggressively fought by the department since first released by the former CHHS dean in spring 2004. Thanks to the help of many of our graduate students, professionals in the field and colleagues on campus the department has made it very clear that we and the profession strongly oppose discontinuance. An extensive written response opposing discontinuance has been written by Dr. Murphy and myself and the administration have received many letters and calls of support for our program. In mid August the new CHHS Acting Dean stated that the college will re-analyze the proposed discontinuance of our grad program and the college may not support our elimination. Since then the budget crisis situation at SFSU has improved somewhat putting less pressure on the administration to cut programs. Yesterday, August 31, Dr. Murphy presented our arguments against discontinuance to the CHHS College Council. The Council unanimous voted against the RLS masters program being discontinued. Later that day the CHHS Acting Dean stated his opposition to discontinuance and forwarded this information to the administration. In mid September the matter of RLS grad program discontinuance will be heard by the college advisory council and then by the SFSU Academic Senate and they will forward recommendations of for or against to the administration. So this is an extremely important time for the RLS Graduate Program. We are hopeful that discontinuance will be terminated by the dean, academic senate or the administration. But we may need to call on you for additional assistance in the near future.

The discontinuance proposal will not effect the graduate courses offered by the department through at least spring 2006. All continuing and new students should not be affected by this proposal if they finish their course work and culminating experience by the end of spring 2006. The largest immediate impact on the department has been we are not able to accept new graduate students for this fall semester, except for several who were admitted prior to the discontinuance proposal.

If you have not done so already, be sure to look at the recently revised RLS Grad Student website, http://www.sfsu.edu/~recdept/html/gradhm.htm, for news, deadlines, research opportunities, department policies, course rotation and much more. There are sections for new and continuing students, so you can quickly find what you need. Thanks to Doug Kaplan for all his work on the website.

Don't miss the chance to attend the National Parks and Recreation Association Conference to be held Oct. 13-17 in Reno. This is a great chance to hear presentations from nationally known experts and to network for job opportunities. See www.nrpa.org for complete details and to register. They need volunteers to help and there are low student rates.

A Program Review of our graduate program was completed last semester. This department-led process, including external reviewers and administration input, has resulted in recommendations to continue our program and for a revised program mission statement, learning outcomes and two new courses. Once the discontinuance situation has been resolved the department may be able to proceed with this exciting new direction and courses. If interested in seeing the review, contact Dr. Tierney.

The department will no longer teach courses required for a certificate in therapeutic recreation. Plans call for continuing to offer REC 410, REC 445 and REC 750, but REC 609 and 610 will not be offered. If you are interested in a TR certificate you will need to consider alternatives other than SFSU. Talk with Dr. Jim Murphy (jfmurphy@sfsu.edu) about your options.

This welcome back letter contains important information for you to note and write down in your over-flowing organizer. The SFSU dates can also be found in the University Bulletin, fall course schedule located at http://www.sfsu.edu and on the Graduate Division website. Remember, it's your responsibility to know these dates and follow-up on them as needed.

As in the past, the primary means of communicating from the department to graduate students about news, deadlines, new policies and job opportunities is via email and through the Department website. So it is absolutely important that you regularly check your email account (they are free to setup at SFSU, but your email does not need to be through SFSU). Make sure we have your most up-to-date email address and snail mail addresses by emailing the department at benes@sfsu.edu and myself (ptierney@sfsu.edu). This email policy doesn't mean we won't call you or are impersonal, but we are in line with the internet being the dominant form of information transfer in the workplace today. On behalf of the graduate faculty;

Patrick Tierney
Graduate Program Coordinator

UPCOMING GRADUATE STUDENT EVENTS AND DEADLINES

Sep. 1 New Graduate Student Orientation. 5:30-7pm in Gym 117. Mandatory for all new grad students and anyone else who have not had the orientation. Extensive resource packet. RSVP (415) 338-1818 or ptierney@sfsu.edu by 9/6, 5 p.m.

Sep 8 Comprehensive Exam Orientation. 5:30-7:00pm. Gym 117a.

Sep. 14 Deadline for preliminary verbal notification to Dr. Tierney of intent to take comprehensive exam in the fall semester.

Sep. 21 Intern Orientation. 7-8pm in Gym 115. Mandatory for those graduate students planning to do an internship in spring 2005. Held in first half of REC 500.

Sep 30 Written notice of intent to take comprehensive exam in fall 2004 semester.

UNIVERSITY/RLS DEPT. DEADLINES AND EVENTS

Sep. 10 Last day to add

Sep. 22 Last day to drop courses

Oct. 1 Last day for graduate students to file application for degree for Jan. 3, 2005 graduation

Oct. 4 Last day for graduate students planning to earn degree in Spring 2003 to file Graduate Approved Program (GAP) and Proposal for Culminating Experience Requirement. Forms in the Graduate Division Office

Nov. 1 Last day to file application for admittance to SFSU Graduate School in order to be admitted for Spring 2005. Contact RLS Department (415) 338-2030 or Dr. Tierney (ptierney@sfsu.edu).

Nov. 1 Deadline for Graduate Students earning degrees in spring to file forms in Graduate Division.

Nov. 25-26 Thanksgiving recess

Dec 1 Program advising (get some)

Dec. 10 Last day to file approved thesis and/or Report of Completion of Culminating Experience Requirement. Forms in the Graduate Division office.

Dec. 13-17 Final Examinations

FACULTY AND DEPARTMENT NEWS

Big news: Dr. Don Taylor has been appointed Acting Dean of CHHS! This is a very important position and time for Don and the department during our fight against graduate program discontinuance. He continues to be a great friend of the department in his new role. You'll see him running madly between meetings, so stop him and say hello or email him (dtaylor@sfsu.edu). We hope to get him teaching full time next year.

Dr. Ginny Jaquith is on the Faculty Early Retirement Program (FIRP) this fall. Thanks to Ginny for all her work this summer putting the internship materials on-line! Ginny's golf game is heating up, as she recently hit a hole-in-one!

We are indeed fortunate to have Dr. Jim Murphy continue as our department chair. He has done a great job of leading the charge against discontinuance and keeping our program strong. If you have not done so already, stop in and introduce yourself to him (HSS 307), call 338-1531 or email him at jfmurphy@sfsu.edu.

Dr. Erik Rosegard taught a number of classes this summer and worked tirelessly on several research papers. He comes up for tenure review in spring 2006. If you have any thing you would like to say in regards to his application for tenure and promotion, please direct your comments to Dr. Tierney so they can be included. If you haven't met him, you'll find he brings strong teaching skills and expertise in American Humanics, youth, community and outdoor recreation, as well as research. He looks forward to meeting all grad students. Erik's office is HSS 311, phone 405-0911 and email rosegard@sfsu.edu.

Dr. Bill Michaelis is on leave this fall and will not be teaching this semester. Bill will be giving conference presentations and workshops from Juneau to New York City this fall. He extends an invitation to all
grad students to contact him any time via email (wiljmich@sfsu.edu).

We are pleased to announce that Laura Rifkin will be coming back again. Over the summer Laura busy consulting in therapeutic recreation and is writing a textbook for REC 220 use.

Dr. Patrick Tierney is writing a book on the significance of fifty years without the Echo Park dam that was proposed in Dinosaur National Monument and how to protect these canyons and park in the future. He was recently elected to the California Tourism Industry Association Board of Directors, the first teacher even to serve on the board. Pat's rafting business had another successful summer.

Dr. Rene Dahl has been named the new Director of the Adolescent and Childhood Development Program in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at SFSU. We'll miss her this fall, but she will be back teaching REC 730 in spring.

We are please to have back popular part time instructors Bob Flasher, Ezra Holland, Loretta Lowe, Susan Mirviss, Elaine Shilling,Marcia Sommers and Regina Neu. Please extend a welcome to new lecturers Connie Anderson (REC 420), Johnathan Fleege (REC 152), Shelly Katz (REC 420) and Sue Pon (REC 260). Many of these teachers are looking for graduate teaching assistants. Contact them directly if interested, or email Dr. Tierney and he will pass on your information to them.

RLS DEPARTMENT INFORMATION

Contact the following faculty and staff to find out more about various program offerings and department-sponsored projects.

* RLS is looking for paid graduate teaching assistants to help course instructors by grading papers and possibly teaching. Please email Dr. Tierney (ptierney@sfsu.edu) if interested.

* NEW ADVISING POLICY- "Students enrolled in any graduate class offered by the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies must show the instructor a copy of a recent (within 4 months) Advising Slip signed by your advisor, indicating that you are approved to take that specific graduate class. This must be done at the beginning of each semester." Getting an advising slip may be as easy as emailing your advisor at the beginning of the semester with your planned classes and letting him/her know that these class are consistent with your jointly-developed and previously approved program and class schedule, or if you have not developed a 1-2 year graduate program plan and course schedule then you will need to meet with the advisor. So if you have not already gotten an Advising Slip within the last 4-5 months please contact your advisor asap to get one, and then show it to your REC 700-800 class instructors.

* If you're interested in obtaining a certificate in Youth and Human Services Nonprofit Administration, see Dr. Eric Rosegard, HSS 311, 338-0911, rosegard@sfsu.edu.

* If you're interested in wellness as a emphasis area of study and career, see Laura Rifkin (338-2030).

* Clarification - only classified graduate students (do not need to take pre-requisites) can take 800 level classes, such as REC 850.

* Dr. Patrick Tierney coordinates and teaches the commercial recreation tourism and resort management areas of our department. (HSS309; Phone: 338-1818; email: ptierney@sfsu.edu )

* Outdoor/adventure types will want to see Dr. Erik Rosegard (HSS 311; Phone: 405-0911; email: rosegard@sfsu.edu) and Dr. Don Taylor (405-3533).

* If interested in Adolescent and Childhood Development issues and classes, see Dr. Rene Dahl, (Phone: 338-7575; email: rdahl@sfsu.edu)

* Contact Edwin Tse (HHS 254; Phone: 338-2047) if you're interested in assisting in teambuilding programs with Pacific Leadership Institute.

* See Drew McAdams (HHS 254; Phone: 338-6883; email: ezra@sfsu.edu ) if you're interested in the Ft. Miley Ropes Course training.

OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION

* Department graduate faculty are: Dr. Rene Dahl, Dr. Ginny Jaquith, Dr. Bill Michaelis, Dr. James Murphy, Dr. Erik Rosegard, Dr. Patrick Tierney.

* Continuing graduate students must file an approved Graduate Approved Plan (GAP) at least two semesters before they plan to graduate.

* Update your address, phone number (work and home), email address or web site. Give the information to Barbara Enes in the department office, HSS 307 (Phone: 338-2030; email: benes@sfsu.edu) If we don't have current information, we can't contact you, nor can you receive information that is pertinent to graduate school… but you are still responsible for it. Email is the primary means by which we will contact you.

* Newly admitted students must take the Graduate Essay Test (GET) before beginning their 2nd semester in the program. The exams are ONLY GIVEN in January and August and you must register several months in advance at the university Testing Center. New students who do not take the test will not be allowed to continue in the program until this requirement is completed. If you take the GET and do not pass it, you must take either CA 514 or EDUC 615 (you can NOT take ENG 414). Another option is to take CHS 514 through Extended Learning. See the FAQ section of the RLS grad program website for details.

* You must complete any prerequisite conditions (as outlined on your dept. acceptance letter and university form) before you can become a classified graduate student. See your advisor.

* As soon as you complete 12 units of courses that qualify for the GAP, you must meet with your advisor to develop and file a completed plan. A GAP should always be filed at least two semesters before your plan to graduate.

* Use your 699/899 Special Study units to maximum educational benefit. You are allowed 6 units on your GAP. Good possibilities for a Special Study course: special project or research paper or an in-depth examination of a specialty area. You must have advisor pre-approval and a completed/signed contract before signing up for Special Study courses.

* If you are thinking about writing a thesis, talk to your advisor. You most likely will need to take a statistics course. You and your advisor can determine the most appropriate type of culminating degree requirement for you, based on your professional interests, grade point average, and ability to work independently. Remember, the thesis is NOT a fallback option for those who don't think they can pass the comprehensive exam - or for those who have failed the exam.

* Get to know the department faculty and their research interests. You might stumble upon an opportunity to work as a research assistant or a teaching assistant. Faculty consistently get funding for grants, projects, and consulting work and may need skillful, responsible assistance from YOU … or they may know a professional who has job openings!

* See RLS policies on the comprehensive examination, the computer competency requirement, and the statistics requirement for the thesis option listed on the RLS Graduate Program webpage.

We hope you take advantage of this graduate school experience to challenge yourself, both intellectually and professionally but also have some fun. We are pleased to be working with you and look forward to continuing adventures in learning.