Scholarship in the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies reflects a commitment to increasing the understanding of leisure and recreation at both basic and applied levels. Faculty and students are involved with scholarly research to develop findings that may be applied by practitioners. Illustrative studies on leisure behavior have been those on the leisure behavior of women and physiological indicators of leisure experiences. Examples of applied studies have been investigations to establish national standards for park and recreation systems, to determine travel behavior and decision-making patterns, and to study the effects of outdoor recreation on the behavior of children with disabilities. A second area is the scholarship of teaching, where faculty engage in creative activities such as those funded by recent curriculum development grants from the Administration on Aging and the Department of Education. A third area of applied scholarship is the development of strategic plans for leisure service agencies and the provision of accessibility training for staff members of the National Park Service.

Each graduate faculty member pursues scholarship in a specialty area, in addition to supervising scholarly activities of students. The department has several graduate emphases, including recreation and park administration, outdoor recreation and resources, administration, recreational sport management, therapeutic recreation, tourism management, and leisure behavior.