A recreation and park professional's goal is to influence people to use their discretionary time wisely and to improve the quality of their lives. This goal is accomplished by providing recreation programs and facilities for people in a variety of settings. Other major employers include youth and family service organizations such as the YMCA, YWCA, Boys' Clubs, Boy and Girl Scouts. Industries employ recreation directors to head employee recreation programs. Areas with perhaps the greatest growth potential for employment are tourism agencies and commercial recreation establishments such as resorts, private clubs, theme parks, and convention and conference centers.
Sport management is also a growing profession with a variety of career opportunities.
The curriculum in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management offers a broad general education background, basic professional and technical courses, and the opportunity to specialize in a particular field. General education courses are in natural sciences, psychology, sociology, English, mathematics, communication, and economics. A specialized course is required in statistics. The curriculum is designed to prepare men and women for a variety of positions in a dynamic and challenging profession. The curriculum provides 37 hours of professional course work that includes recreation philosophy, management techniques and skills, fiscal management, supervision, facility and site planning, programming, administration, and analysis and evaluation.