About

Diverse and distinguished programs and faculty

We offer a broad range of academic programs and diverse faculty expertise that contribute to healthy, resilient and sustainable communities. SCRD distinguishes itself by providing dynamic instruction, scholarship, and service that emphasize transdisciplinary, solutions-oriented approaches to sustainable community development. The School offers students and organizations opportunities to co-create mechanisms that positively impact the environmental, economic, political, and socio-cultural resources that characterize communities. 

Vision and Mission

The vision and mission of the School, developed by the faculty, flows directly from the charter of the University:  ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom we exclude, but rather by whom we include and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves. Similarly, the School’s mission is consistent with that of the College’s philosophy, which is: Preparing the next generation of public service leaders and advancing teaching, research and creative problem-solving in complex urban environments—locally and globally. Through four schools more than 20 research centers, faculty and students are working to solve society’s most pressing challenges through social and economic change.

Vision: Healthy, resilient, and sustainable communities

Mission: To co-create transformative solutions that enhance the social, cultural, environmental, and economic well-being of communities.

Strategic Plan 2022-2026

About us 

The School of Community Resources and Development (SCRD) is one four degree-granting units in the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions at the Downtown Phoenix campus and one of ASU’s transdisciplinary schools encompassing faculty in several areas of study. Our foundation discipline is community development with four more specific areas of education and scholarship that rest on this foundation: community sports management, nonprofit leadership and management, parks and recreation management, and tourism development and management. The activities of the School faculty, staff and students exemplify the design imperatives of the New American University through our programs’ unifying principle of contributing to healthy, resilient and sustainable communities.

SCRD is a comprehensive School with a full range of programs that serve not only our own majors but many students in a variety of programs at ASU. We currently offer bachelor degrees, master degrees, and a Ph.D. in the following fields:

  • Tourism Development and Management
  • Parks and Recreation Management 
  • Nonprofit Leadership and Management
  • Community Sports Management
  • Community Resources and Development
  • Sustainable Communities
  • Recreation Therapy
  • Event Management

The School also offers several minors and certificates and continues to strategically add new programs based on fit with our mission and goals when there is clear demand among students.

History

The early recreation program was developed and housed in the Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. In 1979, the program was invited to join the new College of Public Programs and became the Department of Leisure Studies. During the 1980's, both the tourism and nonprofit management academic areas were added to the traditional park and recreation focus of the department. The department changed its name to the Department of Recreation Management and Tourism in 1994. In July 2004, the department was elevated to school status and renamed the School of Community Resources and Development. The other academic units currently within the College of Public Programs are the School of Social Work, the School of Public Affairs and the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice. 

Highly Ranked
Programs

Source: US News & World Report  

#4

Nonprofit management

Higher than University of Southern California, Ohio State and Rutgers.