News

Highlights from National Research Advisory Board meeting

Exciting plans in the works from the Research Institute

The National Research Institute for College Recreational Sports & Wellness, in partnership with NIRSA, was formally opened August 2, 2005 within The Ohio State University’s Recreation and Physical Activity Center. The Research Institute provides infrastructure needed to conduct, report, and teach research skills. It will also provide data needed to defend recreational sports’ existence, align for further growth, and make superior decisions regarding programs, services, and facilities. Ultimately, this will lead to an enhanced quality of life for those in college recreational sports.

A meeting of the National Research Advisory Board was held July 31-August 2, 2006 in Columbus, Ohio. The Advisory Board agreed to the following:

• Conduct periodic teleconferences of NIRSA’s Research Institute Advisory Board members
• Explore holding a NIRSA National Research Symposium
• Develop a database of published and unpublished research related to collegiate recreational sports
• Present the results of the Recreational Sports Facility Inventory. Danell Haines provided the Advisory Board Members with a rough draft of the data and results of the Recreational Sports Facility Inventory. A subcommittee will be formed to work directly with Danell Haines to review the presentation and format of Inventory data. An educational session on the Inventory is planned for the 2007 Annual Conference.
• Designate a recurring research-related pre-conference session or educational session, beginning in 2007
• Staff a Research Institute exhibit booth at the 2007 Annual Conference
• Create a Research Institute feature column for each issue of the NIRSA Know, beginning September 2006
• Ensure NNC staff liaison and Recreational Sports Journal Editorial Board members are all trained on Human Kinetics’ online article submission form, to be launched November 1, 2006
• Prepare press release about RSJ to encourage submission of articles to the Journal among Student Affairs in Higher Education Consortium (SAHEC); Higher Education Associations’ Sustainability Consortium (HEASC); and retired NIRSA Members
• Consider NIRSA Comprehensive Member Needs Assessment & Student Assessment Research at NIRSA NCCS events