Laurence Chalip Is First Brightbill/Sapora Professor
(L-R) Ilesanmi Adesida, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost; Dr. Laurence Chalip, Head of the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism and first Brightbill/Sapora Professor in the College of Applied Health Sciences; John Sapora; AHS Dean Tanya Gallagher; Webbs Norman, former Rockford Park District Executive Director
Dr. Laurence Chalip, Head of the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, was named the first Brightbill/Sapora Professor in the College of Applied Health Sciences in a ceremony on January 18. The professorship honors Charles Brightbill, who served for 33 years as a leader at the forefront of the local, state, national and international park and recreation movement, and Allen Sapora, who was instrumental in establishing the Department of Leisure Studies at the University of Illinois, and later served as head of the department, as well as acting dean for the College of Applied Life Studies.
Dr. Chalip came to Illinois from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education and Coordinator of the Sport Management Program. His research focuses on issues inherent in and specific to sport policy. Currently, he is examining strategies and tactics for leveraging sport programs and events that optimize economic and social development benefits to the community. He has received the Distinguished Service Award from the Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand and the Earl F. Ziegler Award from the North American Society for Sport Management. He also served as International Chair for the International Olympic Committee.
After receiving his medal from AHS Dean Tanya Gallagher, Dr. Chalip thanked Dr. Gallagher for recognizing the pivotal roles recreation, sport, and tourism play in health. In embracing the breadth, depth, and significance of recreation within their early vision, he said, Charles Brightbill and Allen Sapora helped to create the foundation upon which the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism rests. “RST is vigorously concerned with the way that recreation, sport, and tourism contribute to economic development, social development, and environmental stewardship,” he said, “and by extension and by consequence to the construction of healthy lifestyles for individuals, families, and the communities within which they reside.” He said that the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism is helping to forge the future and train the leaders of tomorrow. “Thank you,” he concluded, “for inviting me to be part of that.”