The Recreational Sports Journal has a new Editor-in-Chief

On April 1, the NIRSA Foundation confirmed the appointment of Dr. Bob Barcelona, Chair of the Department of Recreation Management and Policy at the University of New Hampshire, as the new Editor-in-Chief of the Recreational Sports Journal (RSJ). Dr. Barcelona will serve a five-year term beginning May 1, 2019. This appointment follows months of work by the search committee charged with identifying an editor. Search committee members included:

• Austin Anderson, PhD, RSJ Editorial Board member and search committee chair
• Stacey Hall, PhD, NIRSA Past President
• Shomari Kee, NIRSA Foundation Board of Directors
• Leeann Lower, PhD, RSJ Editorial Board member
• Ruben Guzman, NIRSA Research Coordinator and RSJ Editorial Board liaison

The search committee received several applications from highly-qualified members; making a final selection was not an easy task. Ultimately, Dr. Barcelona’s previous service to NIRSA, as well as his academic contributions and extensive service on numerous editorial boards, made his selection as RSJ Editor-in-Chief most appropriate.

“Being selected as the next editor-in-chief excites me,” says Dr. Barcelona, “because I care deeply about the success of the journal. I have witnessed firsthand the journal’s transformation from the old ‘NIRSA Journal’ to its present format. I owe a debt of gratitude to the RSJ Editorial Board and editors-in-chief who came before me—principally Dr. Paul Milton and Dr. Lynn Jamieson—for making the journal what it is today. I look forward to working with the Editorial Board to make the RSJ a top-tier research journal in the field of campus recreation. We can do this by building and strengthening the number of manuscript submissions, strengthening our peer review process so that it is both rigorous and timely, and enhancing the visibility of the RSJ to researchers and managers in the field. When we do this, it will improve citation rates, increase the journal’s reputation, and most importantly, get high-quality applied research into the hands of the scholars, decision-makers, and managers who need it.”

Please take a moment to congratulate Dr. Barcelona on his appointment! And remember that NIRSA members receive a complimentary subscription to the RSJ’s online content, which is made available thanks to the support of the NIRSA Foundation.