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William E. O'Brien The Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Department of Recreation is one of eight departments within the College of Education which is one of the oldest professional schools at SIU/C. The Southern Illinois University System, a senior public university system comprising two diverse institutions of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, serves approximately 33,000 students. The development of the Recreation Department at SIU-C originally emanated from a diversified number of course offerings in a comprehensive Physical Education Department. This Physical Education Department probably enjoyed its greatest growth and development when Dr. Joseph D. Giovanni was selected to establish the Department in the mid-thirties. From this point on various courses were introduced with new staff added including Dr. William Freeberg and Mr. Lyn Holder. Dr. Freeberg with the assistance of Mr. Holder established a specialization within the Physical Education Department in 1949 which included offerings of a variety of recreation courses although they were still listed under physical education. In addition, a number of courses were recognized and included in this initial recreation curriculum from several departments on campus including Music, Art, Health Education, and Government. The primary emphasis on this recreation specialization was to prepare students to work as recreation and community recreation directors. It was also designed to provide education which would prepare specialists in various areas of recreation including camping, sports activities, swimming, music and dance, and arts and crafts among others. In 1949 Dr. Delyte Morris was selected as the new President of SIU bringing with him a very sincere and dedicated interest in the development of an extensive outdoor education and
William E. O'Brien joined the Recreation Department in 1956 and in 1971, was selected as chairperson. During his tenure, the faculty has grown from four to nine and the department has evolved into a vigorous accredited entity. By his own account, his greatest honors included being selected "Teacher of the Year," "Great Teacher Award," (SIU-C) and "Outstanding Alumni Award," (Indiana University). In 1978, he was named chairperson of the endowed Glenn "Abe" Martin Chair of Ethics. His greatest happiness—the rare privilege of being associated with recreation students. Len Cleary Jr. became a departmental faculty member in 1978 and was responsible for the contemporary development of the therapeutic recreation curriculum and instrumental in the accreditation process.
Camp Two, Touch of Nature Environmental Center, now known as Camp Olympia played a significant educational role in the early development of the Little Grassy Lake complex. Illinois Parks and Recreation 10 May/June 1982 recreation curriculum. The emphasis in the recreation program in the early 1950's expanded its focus and was granted permission by the President and the Board to offer specializations in four different areas. These four specializations consisted of: (1) park and community administration, (2) therapeutic recreation, (3) outdoor recreation and (4) commercial recreation. Initially there was a heavy emphasis in the area of outdoor education and in 1950 the Recreation Department conducted the first camping and outdoor program on an experimental basis at the old CCC barracks at Giant City State Park. During the next school year a comprehensive survey was conducted by the Recreation Department at the request of President Morris and Douglas Lawson, Dean of the College of Education, to determine the extent to which all departments in the University might have an interest in the development and use of an extensive outdoor recreation and educational area at Little Grassy Lake. The intent was to help these departments improve their curriculum through teaching, laboratory work, service and research. Thirty three departments responded and the results were tabulated and discussed with the departmental chairmen most interested. Recommendations for use were then summarized and a master plan drawn and presented to President Morris in an effort to assist the University in securing a lease for property along the shores of Little Grassy Lake. A primary emphasis of the administration and the various departmental chairmen was that the area be utilized for educational purposes to the fullest extent possible. This included emphasis on research, conservation education, forestry management and experimentation, and a heavy emphasis on the development of the various kinds of camping programs for different population groups. These groups included normal youngsters, handicapped youth, university students, and older people. It was also felt that there should be a heavy emphasis on service to the Southern Illinois area as facilities and services were developed which would accommodate these local and regional needs and interests. The Recreation and Outdoor Education Department was chosen as the administrator for the development of the project and the first camping program began in 1951. The Recreation Department was then quartered on campus in a temporary barracks behind Wheeler Library and as staff and assistants were employed, the progress of the functions and purposes of the entire department began to expand. In 1955 Dr. McBride was added to the staff to assist in the development of the outdoor education program and also to help in designing the goals and objectives for each curriculum specialization area. Intensive studies of existing programs considered to be outstanding were made and from these results the basic model for each specialization was decided. In the park and community area the primary goal was to provide departmental students with the most expertise available on campus in the areas of administration, leadership, and supervision skills necessary for conducting park and community recreation programs in both large and small municipalities. In each program a strong effort was made to develop within students a keen sense of professional responsibility and professional ethics to assist them in dealing with the many complicated administrative and operational problems associated with city government, schools, and agencies. In the therapeutic program strong emphasis was placed on the learning of the social, mental, and physical needs and characteristics of various handicapped individuals. This concentration upon understanding the needs and concerns of these individuals was designed to facilitate the students' ability to provide quality leadership, counseling, and successful adaptation of a variety of recreational activities and services for special populations. The focus was placed not only on individuals who were institutionalized but for those who were still living in the community and not attending school and for those who were living with their parents and attending special education classes or various types of workshops. This emphasis still exists.
In 1956 Dr. Taylor, Dr. O'Brien, and Mr. Abernathy were added to the faculty. Later Dr. Ridinger was added thereby creating one of the strongest recreation staffs in the United States at that time. Each one of these professionals was given an area of specialization in working with students and to improve curriculum offerings and teaching. Dr. O'Brien reviewed and clarified the philosophy, the goals, and objectives of the park and recreation administration curriculum and was very helpful in making recommendations for improvements to the other areas of concentration. In the last '50's the services of Dr. L.B. Sharpe who was head of Life Camps from New York University were obtained. He brought his entire outdoor education program equipment, library and other learning resource materials with him from his Life Camp facility. Dr. L.B. Sharpe primarily was responsible for working with the public schools in Southern Illinois and the Education Council of 100 Illinois Parks and Recreation 11 May/June 1982
which was an advisory group to citizens in Southern Illinois dedicated to improving the education of the entire area at all levels of university education. The philosophy of Dr. Sharpe was that "what can best be learned in the classroom should be learned in the classroom and what can best be learned in the outdoors should be learned in the outdoors." Unfortunately, Dr. Sharpe died suddenly and the program did not reach full implementation as it had been envisioned. In spite of this setback the camp and recreation programs at Little Grassy developed quite rapidly because of a large and continuing interest in developing outdoor education and creative use of outdoor educational environments for all students at the University, The Recreation Department was in charge of administration and management of the area and programs in this highly successful era, operating five different camps serving over 400 youth. In addition, approximately 240 university students lived on site providing direct service while taking courses while an additional 100 or more commuted from campus for observation and study. At one time there were 15 university departments offering 33 courses for credit during the 8 week summer session.
Among the special population groups served during this period and who continued to be served, were the mentally retarded, the mentally ill, the adult cerebral palsied, the sight and hearing impaired from all over the state and those with muscular dystrophy.
The camp at that time offered one of the few places in the state having the adapted physical design and staff expertise to work successfully with the severely disabled. The aims and objectives of the entire department which brought this program to such a high professional status and growth was accomplished primarily through the cooperative efforts of the recreation staff and the staff from at least 28 other departments on campus who brought national and international renown to this program. Many
Illinois Parks and Recreation 12 May/June 1982 institutes, workshops, and conferences were conducted by various departments to assist other professionals from many parts of the country in helping them develop similar programs in associative relationships with this university. The program became too large and unmanageable for one department to administer and supervise because of a variety of reasons. The Recreation Department ultimately asked to be relieved of the total administrative responsibility of the camp because of a change in university level policy that seemed to threaten the loss of the educational purposes for which the camp was originally established and had been conducted for approximately 15 years. About this time Dr. Freeberg, in recognition of his outstanding work at SIU/C, was asked by the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation to work with them for a year in helping to develop recreation and fitness programs throughout the nation for the mentally retarded. Dr. Taylor was selected to serve as acting chairman and following Dr. Taylor's tenure. Dr. Ridinger assumed the acting chairman's role. In the early 1970's the faculty recommended that Dr. O'Brien assume the chairmanship. He presently continues in that role.
The main problem which the new chairperson faced at this particular time was that of curriculum development and staff selection. Over the next 10 years the staff grew from four to five faculty members to the present total of nine. The concentration of effort in terms of locating and selecting faculty was focused most directly in the areas of therapeutic and outdoor recreation education. There already existed a strong nucleus of qualified faculty for the concentration in the area of park and community recreation and that group has remained relatively intact up to the present. The therapeutic faculty has finally stabilized through the addition of Drs. Cleary, Teaff, and Kinney. The leadership strengthened both the therapeutic curriculum at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and has been recognized through external review processes as being extremely strong. Drs. McEwen and Smith were selected for the Outdoor Recreation program and these two professionals have greatly upgraded the Outdoor Recreation curriculum. The curriculum area currently undergoing strengthening in response to student demand is the commercial recreation emphasis under the direction of Dr. Loveland. The department was one of the first university recreation departments to have what is now known as internship and fieldwork. Mr. Abernathy has been responsible for the development of the internship program and through his efforts and the rest of the professionals involved in the various areas of expertise, a strong practicum program was prepared. Further, the department has historically, and continues to support the concept of practical education by requiring practica in almost all of its professional courses.
The Park and Community curriculum has been developed through the contributions of Drs. Allen, O'Brien, and Smith and has always been a very vital and strong part of our curricular offerings. Dr. Allen has also assumed responsibility for our contribution to the university General Studies curriculum offering a course in leisure education on a university wide basis which serves twelve to fifteen hundred students per year. In addition, this department, in conjunction with Guidance and Educational Psychology, also developed one of the only existent campus wide leisure education information service centers providing leisure resource information and leisure education/ awareness training groups. These services are available on a daily basis to all university students and to some extent, the community at large. In 1981, the department was fully accredited by the National Council on Accreditation sponsored by the National Recreation and Park Association in Program Services (park and community, outdoor), and Therapeutic Recreation at the undergraduate level and Resource Management, Administration, and Therapeutic Recreation at the masters level. The extended preparation for the accreditation process resulted in a complete evaluation and upgrading of the entire range of departmental procedures, program Illinois Parks and Recreation 13 May/June 1982 offerings, and delivery systems. It is felt that the entire process contributed significantly to the department's present contemporary model of progressive recreation education while allowing retention of the strong elements of personalized basic education service that had evolved in the developmental years of the department. This positive profile has been recently reinforced by the results of both external and internal university evaluations.
The department has also been involved in a variety of research/demonstration efforts to maximize effectiveness of recreation services within human service delivery systems. Most recently a $99,500 award was granted to the department by the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration, to develop and implement a model for facilitating mainstreamed community recreation participation of handicapped adults. This project is unique in that it does not establish segregated ongoing programs or duplicate existing programs, but focuses on preparing the client as well as the community for mainstreamed participation. This is being accomplished through three coordinated services: 1. Leisure counseling for handicapped persons; 2. Leisure advocacy to sensitize the community and provide legal or other persuasive techniques to "open the doors" to commercial/private leisure opportunities; and; 3. Skill upgrading to provide individualized, therapeutic recreation services to develop the leisure and related skills necessary for successful community leisure involvement. As a democratic faculty all members have made vital and important contributions to our academic program. As a unit they have selected goals and objectives that are pertinent and peculiar to each concentration. These have been very well received by the the students, past and present. The department has enjoyed the rare privilege of having a very active, interested and supportive recreation alumni throughout the nation and is deeply appreciative of that fact. Department graduates are out in the "real world" producing quality efforts in all areas of professional service and have become the department's best source of publicity. Presently the department's commitment to research, both practical and empirical has been expanded. Dr. Kinney is the moving force behind this effort and has triggered the motivation of a great number of our staff and students to seek out opportunities for meaningful research. Finally, one of the department's primary goals remains that of service to the University, the local, state and national regions whenever possible. This concept has always been a part of the heritage of the department since the administration of Dr. Delyte Morris. It is felt that this challenge has been met with quality effort by the faculty and students and this effort will continue. At the present time there are approximately 200 majors distributed among the various concentrations. Like the students that preceded them, they tend to be quality young people. Based upon their attitudes and the history of their predecessors, the faculty believes that the profession is well represented by the young talent entering our universities and then departing for important professional opportunities throughout the nation and world. The faculty is deeply appreciative of the type of young students who are ours to work with. Our future is in good hands. This article is the first of a series of articles profiling university recreation departments in Illinois. Over the next year, each major department will be represented as will the junior college BEH model programs. The next issue will feature George Williams College. Illinois Parks and Recreation 14 May/June 1982 |
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