Karla A. Henderson
Dr. Henderson is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management at North Carolina State University.
She has been on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Texas Woman's University. Her Ph.D. was completed at the University of Minnesota. In 2012 she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
She has given numerous presentations throughout North America, South American, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
She publishes regularly in a variety of journals in the field and has authored or co-authored several books: Leisure, Women, and Gender (with Freysinger, Bialeschki, and Shaw), Dimensions of Choice, Volunteers in Leisure (with Tedrick), Introduction to Leisure Services (with Sessoms), Evaluation of Leisure Services (with Bialeschki), Service Living (with Wellman, Dustin, and Moore), and Camp Counseling (with Meier).
She is the co-editor of Routledge International Handbook of Outdoor Studies (with Humberstone and Prince) and Leisure from International Voices (with Sivan). Karla served as co-editor of Leisure Sciences and has been on the editorial boards of numerous leisure and outdoor related journals.
Dr. Henderson has contributed to the profession in a number of ways by serving as president of SPRE, president of the AAHPERD Research Consortium, President of the Academy of Leisure Sciences, and on numerous state, national, and international boards and committees.
She has been the recipient of the JB Nash Scholar Award, the Julian Smith Award, the NCRPS Special Citation, the ACA Dimock as well as Honor Awards, the SPRE Distinguished Colleague Award, the SPRE Excellence in Teaching Award, the North Carolina Recreation and Park Society Honor Award, and the NRPA Roosevelt Excellence in Research Award.
Now retired, Karla enjoys hiking/snowshoeing in the Rocky Mountains, volunteering at her beloved Rocky Mountain National Park, playing her trumpet, being entertained by her two ferocious cats, and reading and writing whenever she has a chance.