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Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences

Creating quality experiences, lives, and communities

Degrees

Leading scholars in tourism marketing, recreation finance, human wildlife interactions, sustainable tourism, leisure sociology and youth development.

Undergraduate Program
Graduate Program

Certificates

Standalone certificates available to any TAMU undergraduate, graduate, and non-degree seeking candidate.

Event Management
Hospitality Management

Internships and Careers

Explore internship and career opportunities within these fields.

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Mar
08
2020-2021 Forsyth Galleries Exhibitions
Forsyth Galleries
Mar
08
CANCELED: 2020-2021 Forsyth Galleries Exhibitions
Forsyth Galleries
Mar
08
Fellows Program 2020-2021
Varies
Kitefest
Kitefest 2019 student planning committee on the day of their event.

Students Snorkeling in Australia as part of the RPTS Study Abroad
Students Snorkeling in Australia as part of the RPTS Study Abroad

Students learn about park planning and development
Students learn about park planning and development

Youth Development student Madison Hank teaching kids about the Ice Age.
Youth Development student Madison Hank teaching kids about the Ice Age.

Current News

Happy Valentines Day!

Kailey Strack February 11, 2021 No Comments
Showing love to our RPTS Family! We hope everyone has a wonderful Valentines Day weekend!
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Tenured: Professor and Department Head of RPTS

Kailey Strack February 11, 2021 No Comments
For four decades RPTS has consistently been ranked among the top three programs in the U.S. and the top ten programs in the world in…
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Happy Halloween!

Kailey Strack October 29, 2020 No Comments
We hope you all have a wonderful Halloween!
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tamu_rpts

RecreationPark&TourismSciences
Congratulations to Mrs. Susan Scott who has been s Congratulations to Mrs. Susan Scott who has been selected to receive the 2020 College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Teaching! This is the highest award for teaching in our College. A formal presentation of the award will be made later this spring.
Howdy Ags, COALS Council, the Texas A&M Career Cen Howdy Ags,
COALS Council, the Texas A&M Career Center, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences invite you to the *Virtual* Spring 2021 AGLS Career Fair on Thursday, February 25th from 9 AM to 4 PM via the HireAggies platform. Registration is required, and will be available through the day of the fair.
All students, graduate and undergraduate, are able to register and attend the fair for FREE. Internship, full time, and graduate/professional school opportunities will be represented.
Register for the Virtual AGLS Career Fair: tx.ag/aglscfstudent
2/23 6 PM Career Fair Prep 101 Workshop: tx.ag/AGLSCF223 
Virtual AGLS Career Fair Tips and Tricks: http://careercenter.tamu.edu/.../Tips-and-Tricks-to-ACE... 
Don't forget to register early so you can access the AGLS Career Fair and employers can review your resume ahead of time!
Texas A&M Career Center and Texas A&M University - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
The College will be sponsoring 9 students to atten The College will be sponsoring 9 students to attend the MSC Student Conference on Latinx Affairs ( https://scola.tamu.edu/ ) conference this year March 11-13, 2021. Currently, we have 6 remaining sponsored registrations left to offer. Students interested in attending the MSC SCOLA using a COALS sponsorship must be in good academic standing and will need to send their name, UIN, and TAMU email address by March 3 to Ms. Jamie Norgaard at jnorgaard@tamu.edu .Sponsored registration will be given on a first come first serve basis; the $45 registration fee will be paid by COALS.
@TAMUSCOLA
Advise & Thrive: https://rpts.tamu.edu/wp-content/ Advise & Thrive: https://rpts.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Advise-Thrive-2.23.21.pdf
Congrats to: Chadley Hollas, Tazim Jamal and Kyle Congrats to:

Chadley Hollas, Tazim Jamal and Kyle Woosnam for their recent publication titled - Host self-esteem in volunteer tourism, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2021.1888112

Myung Ja Kim and Jim Petrick for their publication titled - Roles of constraint and attachment in crowdfunder behavior for sustainable development: An extended theory of planned behavior” published in Sustainable Development 2021 1-13. DOI: 10.1002/sd.2174
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Love one another! Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Love one another!
Congratulations to: Our colleague Charriss York Congratulations to: 

Our colleague Charriss York of Texas Community Watershed Partners. Charriss recently secured another $100,000 grant (funded by NOAA through the General Land Office). Her program will be working on the Texas Regional Stormwater Wetland Manual: Empowering communities to develop wetlands for resiliency. 

Former student Amanda Zalmanek who recently took a position as Operations & Development Associate for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (https://www.trcp.org/). Amanda is “excited to assist in working to conserve public lands for future generations.” Thanks to Rick Harwell for passing this news along.

Donna Lee Sullins sent an item that points out John Crompton continues to be cited and quoted for his work on the relationship between proximity to a park and property value. Texas A&M Today picked up on an article in Money in which John is quoted. https://money.com/how-to-price-a-home/?utm_source=today_newsletter&utm_medium=today_email&utm_campaign=today_02-10-2021. The article points out that proximity to a park is one of six features that help determine a home’s resale value.
Howdy, Please read this week’s Advise & Thrive Howdy,

Please read this week’s Advise & Thrive RPTS weekly advising newsletter by opening the attachment or clicking the link below.

Advise & Thrive: https://rpts.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Advise-Thrive-2.9.21.pdf
Career Fair at Hyatt Regency Lost Pines. Check thi Career Fair at Hyatt Regency Lost Pines. Check this out.
Please don't miss this wonderful opportunity! Please don't miss this wonderful opportunity!
We would like to take the time to wish everyone wi We would like to take the time to wish everyone with a February birthday the happiest of birthdays! We hope you have a great one!
Scholarships are available to current RPTS majors Scholarships are available to current RPTS majors who will be full-time students (at least 9 TAMU credits (grads) and 12 TAMU credits (undergrads)) for both the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters: https://rpts.tamu.edu/
Looking for a job or an internship in our field? C Looking for a job or an internship in our field? Check out our website, where we post our new announcements weekly: https://rpts.tamu.edu/rpts-internships/job-and-internship-openings/
Congrats to: Former undergraduate student Adam Be Congrats to:

Former undergraduate student Adam Beltran for work publicized in AgriLife Today. Adam is a recent RPTS grad who drafted a bill for the conservation of native bees. See the story here - https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2021/01/21/recent-texas-aampm-graduate-hoping-to-create-a-buzz-with-bill-for-native-bees/
PhD student, Seunghoon Lee for co-authorship of: Kang S-E, Park C, Lee C-K, Lee S. The Stress-Induced Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism and Hospitality Workers. Sustainability. 2021; 13(3):1327. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031327. Open access. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1327 
Note that Seunghoon is not the only Aggie co-author on this paper!

Tazim Jamal and her PhD student Julie Kircher for their recent open access publication: Jamal T, Kircher J, Donaldson JP. Re-Visiting Design Thinking for Learning and Practice: Critical Pedagogy, Conative Empathy. Sustainability. 2021; 13(2):964. Open access. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020964
"Also, we hope you can share this invitation with "Also, we hope you can share this invitation with your Texas A&M network to build community within our disciplines. We challenge you to participate fully with our organization and grow relationships that you haven’t traditionally pursued. Academia is a weird space for interpersonal relationships and faculty, staff, and students rarely think of each other’s human dimensions. Lets work against that. We won’t meet the president’s or board of regents’ recently developed diversity, equity, and inclusion goals without coming together regularly and intentionally.
Don’t talk about it, be about it.”
More information on MANRRS events can be found here: https://mailchi.mp/95f805fcd841/manrrs-meet-n-greet?e=9f045767d4
@tamumanrrs
For four decades RPTS has consistently been ranked For four decades RPTS has consistently been ranked among the top three programs in the U.S. and the top ten programs in the world in tourism. It is anticipated that the incoming Head will continue to advance our reputation related to tourism and hospitality, and strengths in youth development.

Candidates with experience in academic administration, who have strong connections with industry, and have an interest in continuing active scholarship are encouraged to apply. 

For more information on this position visit: 
https://apply.interfolio.com/82142

(Find direct clickable link on Twitter or Facebook)
Something interesting to consider. https://180dcta Something interesting to consider.
https://180dctamu.wixsite.com/180dc
All students living or working on campus this seme All students living or working on campus this semester must test for COVID-19 by today's deadline. 
Find more information about the three-step testing process, as well as locations of quick and free on-campus testing: tx.ag/Jan22Deadline
@tamu
Congrats to: Tek Dangi (former PhD student) and J Congrats to:

Tek Dangi (former PhD student) and Jim Petrick for their article published recently in Tourism and Hospitality. Titled, Augmenting the Role of Tourism Governance in Addressing Destination Justice, Ethics, and Equity for Sustainable Community-Based Tourism. https://doi.org/10.3390/tourhosp2010002
Former PhD student KangJae Lee & Rodney B. Diesert. Their research paper, Ada S. McKinley: A hidden history of African American Settlement House in Chicago, has been selected as the Best Research Paper for 2020 (The Academy of Leisure Sciences) and recognized by Chicago Tribune https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-life-ada-s-mckinley-recognition-0115-20210114-vgs7nksilbb5vehyeov7blcckm-story.html
Former PhD students Chun -Chu Chen and Sui-Wen Zou along with Jim Petrick for their new publication in Tourism Analysis titled, Would you be more satisfied with your life if you travel more frequently? https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ta/pre-prints/content-2017-0010;jsessionid=82jjia77lkj9c.x-ic-live-01 The paper has had a strong impact having been picked up in 28 news stories in 28 different outlets - https://www.altmetric.com/details/96424994/news The analytics group Altimetric places the article’s “Attention Score” among the top 5% of all research outputs they evaluate.
Finally and once again – Candace and Chad Nelson added baby Juliette to their family on Wednesday! 
Please do what it takes to keep yourself and others safe and healthy! 
Dr. Shafer
Want to have an incredible summer job and work wit Want to have an incredible summer job and work with kids this summer? Then Camp Ozark might be the place for you! We will be around College Station interviewing January 25th-29th. If camp is something you are interested in, you can reach out to me at joshua@campozark.com to find a time for an interview. If you would like some more information, you can also visit our website https://campozark.com/yoursummer2021/
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