RPTM Kudos - Alumni
Eileen (Dreibelbis) Soisson (93) EileenD11@aol.com is the President of the RPTM Alumni Planning Group. She recently started her own business, The Meeting Institute, LLC based out of Myrtle Beach, SC that offers training seminars, motivational keynotes and event planning services around the U.S.
Brian Esposito (97) bespo333@aol.com will
receive the "Emerging Professional - Undergraduate Degree Award" from the HHD Alumni
Society Board of Directors on Friday, October 1 at the Nittany Lion Inn. Brian will be in town
from 9/30/04 to 10/3/04 and is available to visit with faculty and students. He is currently a
management trainee in sales and marketing for American Asphalt and Grading in Las Vegas. Until
recently, Brian was employed by the PGA Tour as their Head Golf Professional at the Tournament
Players Club at the Canyons in Las Vegas and hosted the annual PGA Las Vegas Invitational. Brian
was cultivated relationships between the tournament and local charities raising $1.5 million annually.
He founded Par FORE a Cure, a professional-celebrity golf outing to raise funds and awareness for
cancer research. Brian started a junior golf program involving inner city youth from Las Vegas
Schools and YMCAs. He was named the 2003 Southwest PGA Golf Professional of the Year and received
the 2003 Horton Smith Award, which recognizes outstanding service and contributions to educational
opportunities for PGA Professionals for the Southwest PGA Section.
RPTM Kudos – Faculty and Staff
Duarte Morais co-authored "Factions and enclaves: Small towns and socially unsustainable tourism development" with Jeffrey Sasha Davis in the Journal of Travel Research, 43(1), 3-10.
Linda Caldwell co-authored Preliminary Effects of a Leisure EducationProgram to Promote Healthy Use of Free Time among Middle SchoolAdolescents with Cheryl Baldwin, Theordore Walls, and Ed Smith in Journal of Leisure Research, 36(3), 2004.
Alan Graefe co-authored Effect of Activity Involvement and PlaceAttachment on Recreationists Perceptions of Setting Density with Gerard Kyle, Robert Manning, and James Bacon in the Journal of LeisureResearch, 36(2), 2004.
Andy Mowen and Geoffrey Godbey co-authored The Interaction of Stress and Park Use on Psycho-physiological Health in Older Adults with Elizabeth Orsega-Smith, and Laura L. Payne published in the Journal ofLeisure Research, 36(2), 2004.
Ralph Smith is the lead author on the 5th edition of Inclusive and Special Recreation: Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities published in August, 2004. His co-authors are from Indiana University and Dalhousie University.
Al Graefe and Andy Mowen received the prestigious Best Paper award for the top research paper published in the past three years in the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration