2019 NIRSA School of Collegiate Recreation
May 19 – May 23, 2019 | Portland, Oregon
For over thirty years, NIRSA has offered the School experience for those who want to develop the skills and relationships to grow their careers in the field of collegiate recreation.
The 2019 NIRSA School of Collegiate Recreation will be held at the Residence Inn Portland Downtown/Pearl District.
The School is an intensive professional development opportunity that provides an intimate and intensive learning experience to help professionals develop competencies to be successful higher education & collegiate recreation professionals.
With a small learning environment, this is an experience that helps attendees create strong networks with their peers in the field.
Who attends NIRSA School?
The target audience for NIRSA School events each year varies. 2019 NIRSA School will be designed for newer professionals in the field in the beginning years of their careers.
New professionals may be found supervising student staff and serving as club organization advisors. They may be found supervising professional staff, but their experience in this role may be limited in scope in comparison to more experienced professionals. New professionals are usually responsible for coordinating the direct delivery of programs and services. For example, they may be found working in specific functional areas (e.g. club sports, aquatics, intramurals, facilities, marketing, etc). If this description sounds like you, the 2019 NIRSA School experience may be right for you!
What topics are covered in NIRSA School?
With a faculty: student ratio of 1:6, this is a learning opportunity provides an opportunity to dive deep into both fundamental and hot topics in the field. The curriculum will be developed by the faculty, and more information will be posted later in fall about the content. Generally, topics for each School event are designed by NIRSA School Faculty to meet the needs of attendees, and be timely and relevant.
Registration
The 2019 NIRSA School of Collegiate Recreation Registration Lottery is underway.
Lottery applications will be accepted until Friday, November 16
and the lottery drawing will take place Friday, December 7.
Those chosen in the application lottery will be contacted by NIRSA Headquarters to complete their registration and pay in full the registration fee of $780. Those not selected will be automatically placed on a waiting list to be contacted should additional space become available. Additional details about the lottery can be found here.
The Faculty: Learn from the Pros
The Faculty of NIRSA’s School of Collegiate Recreation boasts decades of collective experience in managing campus recreation programs.
Each faculty member’s background and institutional affiliations offers a unique perspective on the profession’s challenges and trends.
Faculty members are selected by the current faculty chair, and approved by the NIRSA Board of Directors. In order to offer a dynamic mix of perspectives and experiences to the faculty, two faculty members are selected annually to serve three-year terms.
Serving on NIRSA faculty team is a great way to contribute to the association, network with members, and learn. To learn about the School and faculty roles and responsibilities, check out the Faculty Guide. Applications are accepted annually. Visit the Get Involved area to get application information.
Currently serves as Director of Campus Recreation & Wellness at Elon University, where he has been since 2015. Larry has sixteen years of professional experience in collegiate recreation, including nine years of classroom teaching experience on a variety of topics including officiating, youth sports coaching, and adventure-based ecotourism. His work at Elon also includes leading an institutional student wellness and well-being initiative.
A NIRSA member since 1999, he has presented at several state, regional, and national conferences and has served on a variety of NIRSA committees. Larry also has twelve years of college basketball officiating experience across all NCAA divisions, and currently is on the staff of the Big South Conference and Southern Conference.
In his spare time, Larry enjoys golfing, hiking, cheering for all Pittsburgh professional sports teams, and spending quality time with his wife, Missy, three-year old daughter Ella, and dog Cooper.
Bridget Weikel currently serves as the interim Associate Dean of Students at Old Dominion University, providing strategic direction and management in the areas of Recreation & Wellness and Housing & Residence Life. She holds values in education and wellness that extend into her daily work and long term strategic planning and believes strong collaborative partnerships are critical and a goal when designing and implementing programs and services that meet the larger vision of the organization.
Bridget began her recreation career as a student employee for the outdoor recreation program at the University of Maryland, College Park, became a graduate assistant at Texas State University, then worked in campus activities and recreation programs at Rider University. She spent time in corporate meeting and event planning before coming to Old Dominion University in the Outdoor Adventure Program. Bridget transitioned to the Director of Recreation & Wellness at ODU and served in this role for five years, participating in strategic university and department initiatives in the areas of campus-wide wellness, distance learning, customer service, budgeting, and assessment.
She earned a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Master of Science in Recreation and Leisure Services from Texas State University. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in Higher Education.
Chad has worked in collegiate recreation for the past 15 years. Chad has served in the Campus Recreation Departments at the University of Maryland, University of North Carolina Asheville, University of Central Florida, and previosly served as a Director of Sun Devil Fitness & Student Activities and Conference Services at Arizona State University. Chad now works as the Associate Dean of Students for the Downtown Phoenix Campus of Arizona State University.
In his current role, Chad provides leadership, management, and direction from the Dean of Students office for all student services areas for the downtown campus of Arizona State University. Chad has also served as an adjunct faculty member at Arizona State University, the University of Central Florida, and the University of North Carolina-Asheville. He earned a B.S. degree in Business Administration and Leisure Sport Management from Elon University, as well as an M.S. in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management from Clemson University. Additionally, Chad is presently pursuing an EdD in Leadership and Innovation from Arizona State University.
Marc Iturriaga has over 20 years’ experience in student affairs in the areas of Recreation, Housing, & International Students Office and currently serves as the Executive Director for the Genesis Centre; a $120 million multi-purpose complex which enriches the health, wellness, and unity of communities in Northeast Calgary. In addition to offering sport and recreation amenities, the venue also acts as a cultural, social, and educational hub of the community. Marc believes a healthy, vibrant, and sustainable community must include active, engaged citizens, and has used recreation as a vehicle to help prepare and develop students to create positive change in society. To achieve the goal of getting students active while providing experiential learning opportunities, he has found success through innovative approaches such as creating genderless sports leagues, developing a competency based student development framework, utilizing sustainable budgeting practices, and offering programs in nontraditional ways. A major career accomplishment has been realizing a participant growth from 11,000 to over 30,000 participants per year in his role as Associate Director, Campus Recreation & Business Development at the University of Waterloo.
Marc has his BA from the University of Waterloo and a Masters of Leadership from Royal Roads University, where his thesis was focused on increasing participation among first year residence students.
Marc’s involvement in NIRSA began as a member of the Strategic Values Commission for Sustainable Communities. He is an avid #RecChat contributor, volunteered for the Canadian Region Task Force, served on the Assembly, and has presented at numerous regional and national conferences. This is Marc’s second year as part of the NIRSA School of Collegiate Recreation’s faculty.
Dr. Heather Sanderson is an Assistant Professor, Nutrition, Health and Human Performance and Director, Lowery Fitness Center at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. Like many, she began in the field of collegiate recreation as an intramural sports official and group fitness instructor at the University of Arkansas where she obtain her bachelor degree in kinesiology. Thereafter, she was the Graduate Assistant of Fitness at The University of West Florida in which she a recipient of the 2012 UWF Outstanding Alumni Award. Her first professional position was at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro as the Assistant Director, Fitness. She completed her doctorate of education in kinesiology from UNCG in 2008. After a decade at UNCG, she made the move an hour away to North Carolina State University as an Associate Director, Wellness and Recreation in which she oversaw finance and fundraising, facility operations, marketing and communication, member services, outdoor adventures, student development and research and assessment. Her passion for research and teaching on physical activity, wellness and college student success flourished in which she made the leap to faculty at Meredith College to focus her attention on the advancement of collegiate recreation research. She has served on NIRSA’s Health and Wellbeing commission, NIRSA’s Research and Assessment committee and is excited to join the faculty on the NIRSA School of Collegiate Recreation.
Dr. Wendy Windsor serves as the Director of Campus Recreation at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. In this capacity, she provides leadership to 17 full-time and 300+ part-time employees. She is committed to building strong organizational cultures, mentoring her staff, and serving as a role model within NIRSA and the Tulane community.
Within NIRSA, Wendy has chaired or served on several committees and work teams to include Student Professional Development, Programs Committee, NCCS Standards Committee, Nominations & Appointments, Region IV/Region VI Conference planning committee(s), Commission for Sustainable Practices, and the Leadership Commission. She has also served as state director for Tennessee, and was co-founder of the Southeast Collegiate Soccer Alliance (Region II Soccer league).
Originally from Aiken, SC, Wendy has had the unique experience of working in Region II, IV, and VI. She is a three time Tiger, earning degrees from both Clemson and Auburn University, and served 4 years as Associate Director -Programs & Outreach at Louisiana State University (LSU). In addition to her current role at Tulane, Wendy has worked in Campus Recreation at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Middle Tennessee State, University, and UCLA.
Attending her first NIRSA national conference in 2002, Wendy has been an engaged member of the association since then. Being a past attendee of both NIRSA Level 1 and Level II schools, it has been her goal to come back and “pay it forward”. She is honored and excited to be joining the NIRSA School of Collegiate Recreation faculty team!
Hotel & Travel
Residence Inn Portland Downtown/Pearl District
Hotel Room Block Discounts Cut-off:
Book reservation by April 26, 2019
Rate
King Studio – $204/night
Queen Studio – $204/night
Two Bedroom Suite – $305/night
Reservations
Information about room reservations at the Residence Inn will be provided to those who have been selected through the registration lottery and who have paid their registration fee.
Travel
Airport
Resources
Social Media
Recent News
Apply for a lottery spot for the 2024 NIRSA School
The 2024 NIRSA School for Early Career Professionals is slated for December 10-12 in Louisville, Kentucky. Applications for the lottery are open through Friday, June 14.
The Aspiring Directors Institute and the NIRSA School return
The 2024 Aspiring Directors institute is slated for July while the 2024 NIRSA School for Early Career Professionals will take place in December.
Contact Us
Questions about the NIRSA School of Collegiate Recreation can be directed to the NIRSA Professional Development Coordinator, John Raskauskas.
Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email Heidi Cleary to discuss options, or call 541-766-8211.
#NIRSASchool