Ph.D., Community Resources and Development
A Unique Learning Experience
There are many aspects of the Ph.D. in Community Resources and Development that make this degree unique among its peers.
ASU is located in the Phoenix Arizona Metropolitan Area, one of the fastest growing and most dynamic areas in the United States. Our location in the heart of the fifth largest city in the U.S. and capitol of Arizona provides unprecedented access to a host of organizations, agencies, and businesses. It also provides a living laboratory for the study of issues facing communities today. ASU has a vision to be a New American University, promoting excellence in its research and among its students and faculty, increasing access to its educational resources, and working with communities to positively impact social and economic development. This New American University is a single, unified institution comprising four differentiated campuses that positively impact the economic, social, cultural and environmental health of the communities it serves. Its research is inspired by real world application, blurring the boundaries that traditionally separate academic disciplines. ASU serves more than 63,000 students in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, and welcomes students from all fifty states and more than one hundred nations.
The Ph.D. program is a university-wide interdisciplinary degree. The core faculty engaged in this program are housed in the School of Community Resources and Development (CRD) at the Downtown Phoenix campus and the Department of Recreation and Tourism Management (RTM) at the West campus. The combined faculty of the two programs brings together diverse individuals with a broad range of scholarly expertise and leadership abilities in the primary areas of study. In addition, the Ph.D. builds on current collaborations with faculty with related research interests from existing ASU departments, schools and centers with expertise in public administration, urban planning, community development, communication, gerontology, geography, exercise and wellness, human evolution and social change, family studies and human development, marketing, economics, sustainability, social work, criminal justice and criminology, sociology, and life sciences.
The Ph.D. program builds on the current missions of CRD and RTM where the concept of building sustainable and healthy communities is the unifying principle in the four established focus areas of parks and recreation management, tourism development and management, nonprofit leadership and management, and community studies. Although students will select one specific track, their scholarship will be interdisciplinary and collaborative. Research will occur within three thematic areas:
Sustainable Communities: This area of scholarship investigates the roles of parks and recreation, tourism, and nonprofits in building and maintaining sustainable communities. Researchers investigate the individuals, institutions and policies that define and promote healthy communities. Focus is placed on producing knowledge that informs strategies for community capacity building and maintaining social, cultural, economic, and environmental values. Research empowers communities to utilize natural and cultural resources in a manner that promotes quality of life through economic growth, environmental protection and social equity, including causes and consequences of quality of life. Such a research program examines individual and collective meanings of natural, cultural, and economic environments at multiple scales.
Organizational Capacity Building: This theme focuses on improving organizational competence, enhancing professional development, and developing research-based knowledge for nonprofit, public and private sector organizations that provide tourism, parks and leisure, nonprofit, and community programs and services. In particular, the development of entrepreneurial approaches to social enterprise is a growing area of opportunity as communities seek to find new organizational forms that improve the human and community condition.
Enhancing Community Quality of Life across the Life-Span: Parks and leisure, tourism, and nonprofit volunteerism are important life domains in the cognitive, social, and affective development of children, youth, and adults. Moreover, these community resources are essential components to the quality of life for residents and visitors alike. Researchers explore the effects of the cultural and ethnic demographic shifts in the region on the nature and quality of leisure experiences, as well as research related to providing services to these dynamic populations. Finally, many forms of leisure behavior result in both positive and negative consequences for the individual and society. The faculty explores the impacts of leisure behaviors, motives for such behaviors, and ways to “intervene” or prevent and/or change such behavior, particularly for youth, adolescents, families, elderly and disabled populations.