J. Robert Rossman, Ph.D. is currently an author, speaker, and consultant on recreation program design and management as well as designing customer experiences. He has held a variety of roles in park and recreation administration for over 38 years. Most recently he was professor and Dean of the College of Applied Science and Technology at Illinois State University, Normal Illinois where he still holds the titles of Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus. He was introduced to the field of park and recreation administration through a variety of summer jobs including arts and crafts instructor, lifeguard, pool manager, and resident camp counselor.

He earned his B.S. in Recreation With Distinction from Indiana University in 1968. Upon graduation he was accepted into the NRPA National Internship Program in Oak Park, Illinois under the direction of Robert Toalson. Eighteen months into the internship program he was promoted to Assistant Director of Recreation, a position he held for five and one half years.

While in Oak Park he supervised the operation of seven neighborhood recreation centers and developed several community-wide programs including special events and other activities. In this position he developed his interest in the design, operation and management of program services and creating leisure experience through programming. During this time he also earned a Masters Degree through an extension program offered by the Department of Recreation and Park Administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In 1975 he accepted appointment as a Lecturer in the Department of Leisure Studies at the University of Illinois and held this position while he earned his doctorate in 1981. Upon completing his Ph.D., he was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Leisure Studies at the University of Illinois. Since leaving the U of I in 1983 he has held academic appointments at three universities including the University of North Texas, the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Illinois State University. Throughout his academic career he has been involved in administering programs in recreation, parks, and leisure studies having served a total of thirteen years as a department chair at the University of North Texas and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. At the University of Nevada Las Vegas, he served one year as the founding Dean of the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs. He served as the Dean of the College of Applied Science and Technology at Illinois State University for nine years.

Dr. Rossman has published and made numerous presentations on recreation program development, design, and management. He has given workshops and presentations on programming to academic audiences, public recreation and military recreation personnel throughout the world. He is the lead author of a major textbook on recreation programming that is now in its fourth edition. The book has been used since 1989 to teach recreation programming at over 100 universities in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It is also a standard desk reference used by professional programmers.

            He has provided service for academic and professional organizations. For nine years he helped develop the Certified Park and Recreation Professional examination and served as chairperson of the examination committee for two years. He is coauthor of the Official Study Guide used by test candidates to prepare for the examination. Service to the Society of Park and Recreation Educators has included a three-year term on the Board of Directors and a term as President of the Society in 1999-2000. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration. He has also served as an associate editor for two journals in the field--Schole and the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration.

The Department of Leisure Studies at the University of Illinois selected him as a recipient of the Charles K. Brightbill award for demonstrated outstanding ability. The Department of Recreation and Park Administration at Indiana University presented him the Garrett G. Eppley Distinguished Alumni Award. He received the N.R.P.A. National Literary Award for his contributions to the park and recreation literature. He is a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and the American Leisure Academy. In 2006 he was selected to present the Jay B. Nash Scholar Lecture by the American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation. 

Dr. Rossman continues to contribute to the literature, consult, and speak about programming, program development, program management, and designing experiences. He believes that developing program services that facilitate leisure experiences for participants is the central and unique professional contribution of the field.

Back to Membership List