Dr. Gordon J. Walker earned a Master of Science (Leisure Studies) degree from Arizona State University and a PhD in Forestry (Natural Resource Recreation) from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Gordon retired as a Full Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, in 2019.

Dr. Walker’s research focused on need satisfaction through, motivations for, constraints to, experiences during, and outcomes of, leisure. Much of this work involved individuals living in Greater China as well as those from this area who immigrated to North America. Gordon has published over 90 refereed research articles and co-authored or co-edited three books: A Social Psychology of Leisure (2nd and 3rd editions), Leisure Matters: The State and Future of Leisure Studies, and Race, Ethnicity, and Leisure: Perspectives on Research, Theory, and Practice. Gordon believes that leisure scholars need to “walk the talk”, and so looks forward to having even more free-time to spend on the activities he loves: reading, traveling, wilderness canoeing, and listening to music.

Prof. Huimei Liu is Vice Dean of Academy of Tourism and Leisure, (formerly known as Asia Pacific Center for the Education and Study of Leisure, APCL), Zhejiang University. She is Board member of the Association of Sociology of Leisure, Regional Editor of Leisure Studies, President of Zhejiang Leisure Association. She was a Fulbright scholar to Penn State in 2007-2008, and a visiting scholar to University of Alberta in 2012-2014. Her research convers philosophical, social psychological, and cultural aspects of leisure.

Dr. Xiangyou Shen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University (OSU). She received her PhD in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management at the Pennsylvania State University, M.S. in Tourism Management at Sun Yat-sen University, and B.S. in Civil Engineering and Architecture at Central South University.

Dr. Shen’s research focuses on leisure, play, and health, but also spans a diverse range of subject areas, including psychometrics, human dimensions, digital data, and cross-cultural research methods. Current projects focus on human-environment interactions at the nexus of leisure, health, and nature, and the mechanisms to cultivate active lifestyles in natural and community settings. Dr. Shen also serves as a Guest Researcher at Chinese Academy of Social Science and provides expert consulting in social and behavior science research and international partnership development in higher education.

Dr. Rosenstein is Director of Global Education and Training (GET) at the University of Illinois, where he oversees GET, the Shanghai Office, and the Intensive English Institute. He holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees from the University of Illinois, and a B.A. degree from Duke University. Matt oversees a variety of non-degree programs for academic and professional training and English as a Second Language offered at Illinois to executives and students from around the world. He also directs staff in China working to strengthen cross-campus engagement with Chinese companies, universities, and UI alumni.

Dr. Rosenstein has worked for over 20 years on campus internationalization initiatives in higher education. Prior to his current roles, he served as Senior Associate Director at UI’s European Union Center, and Associate Director of the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security.

Dr. Kathleen Andereck is the director and vice dean of the Hainan University-Arizona State University International Tourism College and a Professor in the School of Community Resources and Development at ASU. Dr. Andereck is also a Senior Sustainability Scientist with the ASU Global Institute of Sustainability. Her research focuses on the tourism experience from the perspective of both visitors and residents particularly as it applies to sustainable community tourism development and the tourism experience. She has conducted recreation and tourism research work with a diversity of organizations and agencies at the federal and state levels. She has also presented many papers at national and international conference. Dr. Andereck is a Fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences, and has been a Fulbright Specialist in Iceland.

Dr. Jun Liu received his doctoral degree in 2006 from Sun Yat-sen University. His research work is mainly related to critical tourism geographies including coastal tourism, rural tourism, and uneven tourism development. After serving as the School’s Dean for several years, he now turned his research interest to the field of leisure education, which is neglected research topic in China.

Dr. Gordon J. Walker earned a Master of Science (Leisure Studies) degree from Arizona State University and a PhD in Forestry (Natural Resource Recreation) from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Gordon retired as a Full Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, in 2019.

Dr. Walker’s research focused on need satisfaction through, motivations for, constraints to, experiences during, and outcomes of, leisure. Much of this work involved individuals living in Greater China as well as those from this area who immigrated to North America. Gordon has published over 90 refereed research articles and co-authored or co-edited three books: A Social Psychology of Leisure (2nd and 3rd editions), Leisure Matters: The State and Future of Leisure Studies, and Race, Ethnicity, and Leisure: Perspectives on Research, Theory, and Practice. Gordon believes that leisure scholars need to “walk the talk”, and so looks forward to having even more free-time to spend on the activities he loves: reading, traveling, wilderness canoeing, and listening to music.

Dr. Feng is the Dean of the School of Community Sports in Shenyang Sports University. She has a PhD in Sport Sociology from Shanghai University of Sport. Dr. Feng was a PI on grants from the Chinese central government and her research investigates national-level issues.

Ms. Trueblood is the Executive Director of the Illinois Park and Recreation Associationblood. She has formerly served as Executive Director for several state and international associations. She has been a lobbyist for homecare, hospice, and osteopaths. She has a Masters in Social Work from University of Illinois at Chicago and serves as a Trustee for her alma mater, MacMurray College. She is a board member for the National Association of Park Foundations. She and is a Certified Association Executive and a graduate from the Institute for Organization Management. She was a Dunn Fellow with the Illinois Governor’s Office and a graduate of the Illinois Women’s Institute for Leadership (IWIL). She was a recipient of the Association Forum’s “Forty Under Forty” award. She was 2018-2019 Chair of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Ethics Committee.

Dr. Sun received his bachelor and master degree from the Department of Accounting, School of Management, Fudan University. Afterwards, he began to teach at the Department of Tourism of Fudan University where he teaches until now. In 2003, he began pursuing his doctor degree at the Department of Philosophy. In 2006, he received the German scholarship of DAAD and studied at the Institute of Philosophy at Humboldt University in Berlin from 2006 to 2008 as the joint training doctor student. He received his doctoral degree in 2010 and was awarded “Best Teachers” honorary title at Fudan University in 2012. He currently serves as the Deputy Dean of the Department of Tourism at Fudan University and the Dean of MTA Program; one of the Evaluation Experts of Shanghai Tourism Developing Certified Fund; Member of Shanghai Tourism Standardizing Committee. He wrote one monograph, translated one book and published dozen of articles in domestic core journals. His research topics include public memory and scene description; producing protection of intangible cultural heritage; barrier-free tourism and sustainable tourism development.

As President & CEO of Visit Champaign County and Director of the VCC Foundation, Jayne DeLuce feels honored to work alongside others in promoting the greater Champaign County area as a destination to visit, work and live.

DeLuce previously worked for University of Illinois Campus Recreation, Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, South Florida Sports Festival, and Broward County (FL) Parks & Recreation. She has master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Illinois in Recreation, Sport & Tourism (RST) with an emphasis on marketing.

DeLuce has presented at national conferences, including Destinations International, NRPA, US Olympic Congress, US Aquatics Summit, IPRA, FRPA, NIRSA, and she has had several articles published in state and national industry publications. She has been recognized with the Chamber of Commerce ATHENA Award, the Joseph Bannon Practitioner Award by UI RST, the Woman of Distinction Award by the Girl Scouts of Central Illinois, and recently inducted into the UI Greek Alumni Hall of Fame.

She serves as Chair of the IL Council of Convention & Visitors Bureaus Board, the Illinois representative on the Upper Midwest Convention & Visitors Bureaus Board, the Advocacy Committee for Destinations International, and recently chaired the UI RST Alumni Council.

Dr. Erwei Dong received his doctoral degree in Recreation, Parks and Tourism Management from Pennsylvania State University. He has many experiences in international leadership. Erwei is one of the co-founders of the China-International Leisure Research Association (CIRLA). He is vice-president of Society for Hainan Sports Development. He was the founding chair of Recreation Management at United States Sports Academy. He was assistant director of Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University. He was director of International Center for Leisure and Sport Tourism at Shanghai University of Sport. He has also served as conference chairs, conference promoting chairs such as World Leisure Congress, Tourism Sciences Society of Korea International Conference, Japan Society of Leisure and Recreation Studies Conference, China International Conference on Sport Tourism, and China International Conference on National Parks and Outdoor Recreation. His research interests are leisure and culture, leisure and sports, leisure and health, and leisure and tourism.

Peter Bannon joined Sagamore Publishing LLC in 1988 as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In 1992, Bannon was promoted to the position of President, a position he continues to hold. He has a Bachelors Degree from the University of Illinois, an MBA from the University of New Haven and is a National Certified EMT.

In 2016, Bannon/Sagamore Publishing, acquired Venture Publishing Inc and created Sagamore-Venture, the largest publisher in the field of leisure. Combined, Sagamore-Venture has published more than 200 books and a dozen journals in the area of leisure and wellness.

Bannon has been active in the publishing industry for over 30 years and was once named the Mid-America Publishing Association’s “Man of the Year.”

Having graduated from King’s College London in European Studies, Alejandra has since worked in academic publishing with Routledge, Taylor & Francis, for over nine years. Alejandra began as Assistant on the Area Studies portfolio, and moved on to managing the Sport, Leisure, and Tourism journals in 2014.

As Portfolio Manager, Alejandra is responsible for the management and development of the Sport, Leisure and Tourism portfolio, which includes the journal Leisure Studies, and works closely with academic Editors, learned society contacts, and colleagues, worldwide. Alejandra has a particular focus on the Sport Science portfolio, and in initiatives looking to build her journal’s presence in China.

Katie Gezi joined Routledge, Taylor & Francis in September 2019 after working in Journals at Oxford University Press. A California native, Katie served in many roles across book publishing in the San Francisco Bay Area before finding academic publishing. As a Portfolio Manager, Katie oversees a variety of journals in Leisure, Urban Studies, Planning, Geography, Hospitality, and Tourism, while collaborating with editors and societies to increase a journal’s visibility and assist in editorial strategy.

Dr. Diana Parry has a Bachelor of Recreation and Leisure Studies (Brock University), Master of Arts (University of Waterloo) and a PhD in Leisure Studies (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Diana is currently serving as the Associate Vice-President, Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion.

As AVP, Diana provides strategic and academic leadership, and works with the campus community to lead, articulate, and affect culture change through policies, programs and practice. A Professor in Applied Health Sciences and a fellow in the Academy of Leisure Sciences, Diana’s research utilizes a variety of feminist theories to explore the personal and political links between women’s leisure and women’s health, broadly defined.

Dr. Heather Gibson earned her bachelor’s degree at the Brighton University in the UK, before heading to the University of Connecticut where she earned an MA in Sport and Leisure Studies and her PhD in Sport, Leisure and Exercise Sciences. Professor Gibson has published across the fields of leisure, tourism and sport. Her research interests include sport tourism (specializing in sport events and active sport tourism), leisure and tourism behavior in mid and later life, women as tourists, and perceived risk in tourism. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences, a Fellow-elect of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism, and an Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars Fellow at the University of Florida. She is Chief Managing Editor for Leisure Studies, an Associate Editor for the Journal of Sport & Tourism and the Annals of Tourism Research, an Editorial Board member for the World Leisure Journal, the Journal of Sport Management, and the Journal of Policy Research in Leisure, Tourism and Events.

Laura Payne is a Professor in the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Editor of Journal of Leisure Research. She received her PhD from the Pennsylvania State University in Leisure Studies with a minor in gerontology.

Dr. Payne’s research examines the effects of leisure behavior on aspects of health and well-being among older adults. She has directed several statewide outreach and research programs such as the Illinois Rural Recreation Development Project, Illinois Senior Wellness Initiative, Take Charge of Your Health: Live Well be Well, and the Illinois Health Care Reform Initiative. Her work has been supported by the State of Illinois Division of Human Services, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Recreation Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Kimberly Shinew is a Professor in the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her PHD in parks, recreation and tourism from Clemson University. Her research focuses on the interrelated effects of race, ethnicity, social class, and gender on leisure preferences and behaviors; the impact of constraints, discrimination, and other factors on access to recreation and leisure services and activities, the roles of leisure spaces and activities in facilitating interaction among diverse groups, and the roles of leisure in encouraging physical activity and active living. Her research has been published in Journal of Leisure Research, Leisure Sciences, Sex Roles, Journal of Physical Activity & Health, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise, American Journal of Health Promotion, and other outlets. Dr. Shinew served as the Editor of the Journal of Leisure Research for six years.