Meet Our Faculty

 
  Dr. Clifton Watts
Assistant Professor
Co-Director,
Study Abroad South Pacific
Department of
  Recreation & Leisure Studies
East Carolina University
e-mail: wattsc@ecu.edu
phone: 252.737.2426
web: http://personal.ecu.edu/wattsc/
Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University
M.S., The Pennsylvania State University
B.S., Bridgewater State College

Clifton Watts completed his Ph.D. at The Pennsylvania State University in 2004. He arrived at East Carolina University in August of 2008. His research focueses on youth development, and he is particularly interested in how youth are socialized into leisure. To this end, he is currently examining how youth are supported by parents, peers, and other interested adults to access and use outdoor places, particularly wildlands such as forests, national parks, and other protected areas. Long-term studies in this area focus on how early experiences in the outdoors impact physical activity levels, pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, and recreation behavior in outdoor places. His interests in study abroad are directed at understanding these phenomena from an international perspective.

Clifton's other research examines the role of out-of-school time programs on supporting youth through their development. Past studies examined how afterschool programs can be used to support positive health behaviors (e.g., healthy eating, exercise) and also support connections to school and academic achievement.  Currently, Clifton is examining how residential summer camps support adolescent development and promote health behaviors of youth with disabilities and chronic illnesses.

Prior to his arrival at East Carolina University, Clifton worked at Texas A&M where he served on faculty in the Recreation Park and Tourism Sciences Department.  While at A&M, he was an associate faculty member of the university’s Children, Youth and Family Research Initiative, where he served from 2004 through 2008.  He has an extensive background as an evaluator, and started his post-graduate career as a Project Director and Research Associate for Education Development Center, Inc., which is located in Newton, Massachusetts.  In this capacity, he assisted with the design and execution of studies for a range of prevention and intervention programs aimed at high-risk youth.  These studies involved a wide variety of community based efforts emanating from municipal recreation and park departments, schools, hospitals, criminal justice, and other grassroots agencies.

Clifton teaches courses in Leisure and Human Behavior, Leadership and Group Dynamics, Program Planning and Evaluation, Research and Evaluation Methods, and Social Policy and Evaluation of Initiatives for Youth.  He has several papers, technical reports and presentations to his credit, and has been highly involved with local, state and national organizations in the area of youth development.  He is a member of the National Recreation and Park Association, and also serves as an Associate Editor for the academic journal, Leisure Sciences.  He is an active reviewer for the Journal of Leisure Research and the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration.

 
  Dr. Paige Schneider
Assistant Professor
Co-Director
Study Abroad South Pacific
Department of
  Recreation & Leisure Studies
East Carolina University
e-mail: schneiderp@ecu.edu
phone: 252.737.2425
web: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-hhp/rcls/schneiderp.cfm

Ph.D., Michigan State University
M.S., Bowling Green University
B.S., Bowling Green University

Paige Schneider completed her Ph.D. at Michigan State University in 2008.  She holds an M.A. in Recreation & Tourism from Bowling Green State University. Paige’s research has focused on marketing, communication, and consumer behavior related to tourism, with a special interest in adventure tourism.  Working closely with National Geographic Adventure magazine, her dissertation research sought to understand the personality characteristics and motivation networks of adventure travelers. Her dissertation was titled:  Adventure Travelers and Their Traits: A Hierarchical Model Approach.

Paige has 15 years of experience as a travel consultant and manager of a Virtuoso member agency in Northwest Ohio, where she specialized in adventure travel vacations. Paige is a Certified Travel Consultant (CTC), a Certified Adventure Travel Specialist (ATC), and has completed several Destination Specialist (DS) certificates during her career, providing her with industry perspective and knowledge that enhances her academic research.

Passionate about adventure since her first visit to the San Juan Islands of Washington State, Paige is a longtime advocate of adventure travel, believing adventure travel offers experiences that promote cultural understanding, fulfill personal dreams, and encourage environmental sustainability. Her travels typically include hiking, biking, and kayaking —her latest favorite places the beautiful islands of Croatia and the breathtaking Pacific Lowlands of Nicaragua.

Recently, Paige accepted a faculty position in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at East Carolina University (ECU) in North Carolina where beginning in fall 2008 she will teach and conduct research in the area of tourism.  She also received an appointment as an Affiliate Faculty member with the Center for Sustainable Tourism, Division of Research and Graduate Studies, ECU.  The center is dedicated to promoting sustainable tourism across the region, state and nation through innovation in graduate education, leadership development, community consultation, and collaborative research.

Paige works closely with adventure industry as a research associate with the Adventure Travel Trade Association and since 2005 has been the director of research for Xola Consulting, a company that supports the growth and development of companies in the adventure travel business around the world with creative and practical consulting advice.  She also serves as an advisor to a number of Michigan tourism organizations as well as the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Development.