NC State Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management

10/08/2026

🏕️ Looking for hands-on experience in outdoor recreation, leadership and adventure programming?

NC State Wellness and Recreation is hiring for a variety of student positions, including opportunities with Outdoor Adventures in:

🥾 Outdoor Adventure Trips
🧗 Climbing Wall
🌲 Teambuilding and Challenge Course
🎒 Equipment Rentals

Many positions are for the spring semester, but hiring and training begin this fall. Applications for many WellRec positions are open through October 15.

Explore available positions, job descriptions and starting pay:
http://ncst.at/ZOgC50ZVy5p

10/06/2026

Friendly Reminder: we hope to see you today for the PRTM Seminar titled Researching Major Sport Events: Challenges, Opportunities and Impacts.

Join us today, October 6th, in Jordan Hall Addition Room 1214 at 3:30 with our esteemed guest speakers, Dr. Sandro Carnicelli, Associate Dean Research and Innovation, Professor of Tourism and Leisure Studies, University of the West of Scotland and Dr. David McGillivray, Professor of Event and Digital Cultures, University of the West of Scotland.

Details about today's talk: In this talk, we use our research enquiries for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games to explore the opportunities and challenges presented by undertaking research in and around a major sport event, framed through the UK’s research agenda of ‘impact’. We draw on four projects (GAPS, Glasgow 2026 Legacy Network, Thought Leadership and Glasgow 2026 Impact Evaluation) to highlight how considerations of access, independence, originality and knowledge mobilisation impact on our academic practice and influence how we operate within contested frames. We demonstrate that, in the name of generating societal impact from our research, there are pressures associated with compromising academic standards and principles to ensure the research leads to policy or practice change – the criteria for claiming and evidencing impact in the UK context.

We hope to see you there!

10/01/2026

🎮 From gamified learning to career exploration, Dr. Ed Lindsay continues to find creative ways to engage PRTM students and enhance their learning.

Dr. Lindsay, an Associate Teaching Professor in PRTM, is featured in a DELTA News story highlighting his innovative approach to teaching and his longstanding commitment to creating meaningful, student-centered learning experiences.

One example is his work developing a fully gamified Sport Management course experience that allows students to create avatars, make choices and explore different career pathways within the sport industry as they progress through course content. Preliminary data from the project showed increased student engagement and improved achievement among students who interacted with the gamified content.

As one of DELTA’s first Faculty Fellows, Dr. Lindsay has spent years exploring new approaches to course design and instructional innovation — always with the student experience at the center.

🐺 We’re proud to have educators like Dr. Lindsay in PRTM who continue to rethink what teaching and learning can look like for our students.

🔗 Read more about Dr. Lindsay and his work: http://ncst.at/peKT50ZQBOZ

09/29/2026

Join us one week from today for a special seminar event!🎙️👨‍🎓

Title: Researching Major Sport Events: Challenges, Opportunities and Impacts
Where: Jordan Hall Addition 1214
When: Tuesday October 6, 3.30-4.30 PM

Dr. Sandro Carnicelli, Associate Dean Research and Innovation, Professor of Tourism and Leisure Studies, University of the West of Scotland

Dr. David McGillivray, Professor of Event and Digital Cultures, University of the West of Scotland

Hosted by Dr. Jason Bocarro

In this talk, we use our research enquiries for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games to explore the opportunities and challenges presented by undertaking research in and around a major sport event, framed through the UK’s research agenda of ‘impact’. We draw on four projects (GAPS, Glasgow 2026 Legacy Network, Thought Leadership and Glasgow 2026 Impact Evaluation) to highlight how considerations of access, independence, originality and knowledge mobilisation impact on our academic practice and influence how we operate within contested frames. We demonstrate that, in the name of generating societal impact from our research, there are pressures associated with compromising academic standards and principles to ensure the research leads to policy or practice change – the criteria for claiming and evidencing impact in the UK context.

09/24/2026

🏟️ Stadiums. Arenas. Amphitheaters. Performing arts centers. Learn what it takes to manage the venues where sport and entertainment happen.

NC State’s Sport and Entertainment Venue Management Graduate Certificate is a fully online, 12-credit-hour program designed in collaboration with industry experts for professionals looking to advance their careers — or those interested in breaking into the venue management field.

Through accelerated 8-week courses, students explore the industry through recorded lessons from faculty and industry experts, virtual venue tours, interactive discussions and real-time online class meetings. The certificate can be completed in just two semesters.

📅 Apply by October 15 to start in Spring 2027.

Learn more and apply: http://ncst.at/jLUQ50ZQBQB

Students in the one-year Graduate Certificate in Sport and Entertainment Venue Management will experience state-of-the-art online course delivery methods. They include captivating, recorded lessons from faculty and industry experts, virtual tours of prominent venues, virtual reality components, inte...

09/22/2026

Don't forget to head to the PRTM Seminar Series event today, Sept 22nd, from 3:30 to 4:30 PM in Jordan Hall II, 1214. Dr. Bethany Cutts will be sharing a talk titled "What Leisure Makes Possible: Civic Life, Shared Resources, and Public Purpose".

Her talk considers what leisure makes possible across parks and recreation, tourism and events, sport management, and beyond—and how it can help us better understand the public value of our work. We hope to see you there!

09/17/2026

🐺 Please join us in welcoming Dr. Anthony Weems to PRTM!

Dr. Weems joins the department as an Associate Teaching Professor, and we’re excited to have him as part of the PRTM community. We asked him to share a little about himself and his journey to NC State:

“My research interests revolve around the social, cultural, and political functions of sport and physical activity. This includes topics from international sport governance to community engagement and grassroots activism. That aligns well with what I’m currently teaching here at NC State, SPM 238 Principles of Community Engagement and PRT 295 Contemporary Issues in Global Sport, Tourism, and Mega-Events.

My professional journey to NC State has taken me everywhere from the mountains to beaches, and so it’s fitting that I’m here between the two. Living and working in Raleigh has been a personal goal of mine for many years now, so I’m excited to live and grow alongside such a stellar faculty and staff, and to work with the incredible students that come here.”

Welcome to the Wolfpack, Dr. Weems! 🐺

09/14/2026

PRTM Seminar Series #2 is up next.....join us on Tuesday, September 22nd for a special talk by Dr. Bethany Cutts titled "What Leisure Makes Possible: Civic Life, Shared Resources, and Public Purpose".

Dr. Bethany Cutts
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
3:30–4:30 PM
Jordan Hall II, Room 1214

Dr. Cutts shared the following description of her seminar session:

"My career has been shaped by a persistent interest in how people understand, use, govern, and care for shared environments. Over time, that work has crossed disciplinary boundaries, connecting environmental science and built-environment policy with environmental justice, community engagement, geospatial analysis, public health, and civic education.

In this talk, I introduce civic leisure (leisure activities and spaces that create opportunities for people to connect with places, public issues, and one another) as an emerging framework for making sense of my interdisciplinary career and of explaining how I found an intellectual home in NC State’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management as a disciplinary outsider.

Drawing on examples from my teaching, research, and engaged scholarship, I trace how a growing appreciation for leisure has changed the way I understand my own work. I then invite the audience into a broader thought experiment: What would it talk for civic leisure offer a shared framework for understanding the public value of our work across parks and recreation, tourism and events, sport management, and graduate education?

Ultimately, I suggest that leisure is more than the department’s subject matter. It offers a counterframework to labor—one that helps us understand how people access, experience, steward, and make decisions about public goods and common-pool resources, and why this work (yes, even the Sport Management degree) has a distinctive place within a College of Natural Resources that we can translate to our students’ first and fifth employers."

09/09/2026

📣 Applications are now open for NC State’s 2027 Building Future Faculty Program!

For more than 20 years, the Building Future Faculty (BFF) Program has helped doctoral scholars prepare for successful careers in academia. The immersive professional development experience brings doctoral candidates from across the country to NC State to learn more about the academic job market, the transition into faculty roles, and building long-term success in the professoriate.

The 2027 program will take place March 10–13 at NC State and includes workshops, mentoring, guided discussions, and opportunities to connect with faculty and academic leaders.

PRTM doctoral students who are at least in their third year of study and interested in pursuing a faculty career are encouraged to apply — and faculty and graduate students are encouraged to share this opportunity with eligible doctoral candidates in their professional networks.

📅 Applications are due October 15.

🔗 Learn more and apply: http://ncst.at/vA7k50ZIpRc

09/03/2026

🌿 Mark your calendars for September 24! Join us for Conversations on Nature and Health: NC Outdoor Recreation, from 8:45–10 a.m. at the Plant Sciences Building.

NC State’s new Nature & Health Collaborative will host two opportunities to convene and converse this fall through its Conversations on Nature and Health initiative. Each date will feature experts from the university and the community who will offer initial comments before a broader dialogue.

Join us for the first event in the Conversations on Nature and Health series, focused on outdoor recreation in North Carolina.

PRTM will be well represented in the conversation! Ann Savage, Tourism Extension Associate, and Professor Lincoln Larson, Co-Director of the Nature & Health Collaborative, will join the panel, with Professor Aaron Hipp, Director of the Nature & Health Collaborative, serving as moderator.

☕ Coffee and a light breakfast begin at 8:45 a.m., followed by the panel discussion at 9 a.m. The event is free and registration is encouraged.

🔗 Learn more and register: http://ncst.at/bkyo50ZIpZn