As part of the course requirements for FOR 797 Women
in Scientific and Environmental Professions, students share the responsibility
for reporting on our speakers for distribution to co-sponsors and the
Knothole. The following press release
was prepared by Mary Joyce G. Sali.
Dr. Karla A. Henderson, Professor
and Chair of the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, presented a lecture entitled Leisure and the (Secret)
Lives of Women and Girls on Tuesday,
February 17, 2004 as part of SUNY-ESF’s Women in Scientific and
Environmental Professions Speaker Series for Spring 2004.
Dr. Henderson discussed the meaning of leisure and five
social factors that influence it. She emphasized that leisure is not only
freedom to do certain things that a person likes but also freedom from doing
certain things such as work-related activities. She also tackled how having a
family affects the leisure choices of women. She specifically mentioned that
for women who are mothers, the ethic of care often takes precedence over personal
leisure needs.
She
discussed that the most significant obsession of our culture is focused on a
woman’s body. Media plays a big part on our perception of body image and the
issues of eating disorders. She also spoke on how fear and violence in American
culture constrains women’s pursuit of leisure.
The speaker
inspired everyone when she discussed seven habits for a highly successful
leisure life: be conscious of the myriad of choices, do something you love each
day, be open to new things, make leisure a priority, savor all aspects of life,
enjoy and challenge yourself, and find an activity partner. She ended her
lecture by emphasizing two things- leisure is a right and leisure is a
gift.
Dr. Henderson received her B.S. in
Physical Education Chemistry and her M.S. in Education (Major in Guidance and
Counseling) from Iowa
State University.
She finished her Ph.D. in Recreation, Park, and Leisure Studies from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
She has authored and co-authored several books and has published in
several journals. Her research endeavors focus mostly on women’s leisure and
social psychology of leisure behavior. She has been a recipient of numerous
awards such as the NCSU “RPTM Partner” Award, University of Illinois
Allen V. Sapporo Research Award, the Julian Smith
Honor Award, the NRPA Roosevelt Award for Research, and the JB Nash Scholar
Award.
The lecture was sponsored by the
Faculty of Forest and Natural Resources Management, the ESF Women’s Caucus, and
the ESF Graduate Student Association. It was also funded by The Kaleidoscope
Project, a diversity initiative between the Division of Academic Affairs
and Student Affairs to broaden the understanding of diversity and promote
healthy dialogue about related issues at Syracuse University.
For more information about this or
upcoming speakers in the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions
Seminar Series, please visit
http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus.
