Welcome from the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies 

 Dr. Erin Sharpe, Department Chair 

Hello and welcome! We have been eagerly anticipating your arrival and kicking off the busiest and most energizing time of the year! My name is Erin Sharpe and I am the Chair of the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies. As a Department we house a dozen faculty, three staff, and about 250 undergraduate and graduate students. We pride ourselves on the strong learning community we generate among professors and students and the great experiential components of our programs including in-class and out-of-class field trips, placements, and internships. You are embarking on a journey with us that we hope continues even beyond your Convocation! One of the best aspects of this job is hearing about how students are putting their skills and knowledge to use as they launch exciting careers. It all begins this semester! We’re ready to get started!  

 Michael Fawkes, Undergraduate Program Coordinator & Academic Advisor 

Welcome to Brock! 

 I’m always excited for a new group of students to continue their academic journey in Recreation and Leisure Studies. My job is to provide academic guidance and direction to you throughout your time at Brock. Have questions about courses? Timetables? Careers? Grad School? Studying Abroad? Fantasy Sports?  Feel free to ask me about any or all of the questions you may have. My goal is to establish a safe and comfortable rapport with everyone while getting to know all of you on a first name basis. I’m a graduate of the program (BRLS ’99) and have worked in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies since 2004 . Brock is my home away from home. I hope you learn to love Brock as much as I do. 

Ty Bolibruck, Experiential Education Coordinator 

Hi there new badgers! I hope you are excited to experience all that Brock and Recreation and Leisure Studies has to offer. Throughout your degree you will engage in many different first-hand experiences that will help you to develop skills, clarify values and make learning coming alive. Your professors and instructors in Recreation and Leisure Studies truly are leaders across campus in engaging students in experiential education. I look forward to meeting you and supporting you as you navigate your Brock RECL journey.   

Welcome from your Year 1 Professors 

 Dr. Timothy O’Connell, RECL 1P90 

Hello and welcome to the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at Brock. I hope you had a great summer and are looking forward to an amazing Fall semester. I’m excited to get to know you and to work together in RECL 1P90 – Introduction to Recreation and Leisure Studies. You’ll find the students, staff and faculty in the Department to be wonderful people – I encourage you to introduce yourself and get involved in the many things going on at Brock this Fall. See you in class! 

Dr. Kyle Rich, RECL 1P95 

Hello new students! I’ll be your teacher for RECL 1P95, Recreation Programming. This course is a great one to start off your time at Brock because not only do you learn in this course but you also get to know and have fun with your classmates! Together, we help one another learn and practice how to plan, implement, and evaluate high quality programs. I’m really looking spending as much time as possible in on-campus teaching and learning. One good thing about this course is that we can be very flexible with how and where we set up our classroom!  

Dr. Garrett Hutson, RECL 1P99 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Brock and to our awesome Department. RECL 1P99 is about all things LEADERSHIP. Leadership is an active relational process that leaders and followers create together. It is my job to make all of my courses engaging, but lucky for you (and me) the topic of leadership is an easy one to get excited about. We dive deeply into the academic theories and philosophies that underpin the study of leadership in our respective fields. This contributes to a first-year foundation for you to build on for the rest of your time at Brock. Just as important, I ask you to unpack your experience of leadership and apply it to your own learning development so that you walk away from the course with insight into how personal leadership growth emerges best for you. Simultaneously, we explore how to support others in their own diverse leadership journeys. I cannot wait to meet all of you!