H. Douglas Sessoms was Professor Emeritus, Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He was Chair for 28 years and taught there for 44 years. A native of Wilmington, North Carolina, he received his baccalaureate degree from UNC-CH (1953), his Master’s from the University of Illinois (1954), and his doctorate from New York University (1959). As an educator and scholar, he authored or edited more than a dozen texts and 150 articles and monographs. Dr. Sessoms has served the park and recreation movement in several capacities: locally, as chair of the Chapel Hill Park and Recreation Commission; regionally, as president of the North Carolina Recreation and Park Society; and consultant to the North Carolina Recreation Commission; nationally, as president of the Society of Park and Recreation Educators, the Academy of Leisure Sciences, and the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration. He also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of NRPA, consultant to the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, chair of the NRPA/AALR Council on Accreditation, and chair of the NRPA Certification Examination Committee. He is the recipient of the NRPA Literary Award and Distinguished Professional Award, the AALR J. B. Nash Scholar Lecture Award, the Charles K Brightbill Award, the Harold D. Meyer Award, the SPRE Distinguished Fellow Award, the North Carolina Recreation and Park Society Fellow Award, and is a founding member of the Academy of Leisure Sciences.
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I first met Doug Sessoms in the early 1980's when he came to the state of Wisconsin to meet with the educators. As a young faculty member, I was nervous about being around this important "legend" in our field. About two seconds was all one needed with Doug to become instant collegial friends and to lose all intimidation. Over the years my respect for Doug as a person as well as Doug as a legend has continued to grow. I have been privileged to have a day to day association with him for the past 12 years.
I would describe Doug as the consumate diplomat and the professional’s professional. A colleague from another university related the story of how once he criticized Doug’s work in an article. Doug called him on the phone and invited him to come to Chapel Hill so they could sit down and discuss this work further. Doug Sessoms epitomizes the knowledge and commitment to the field of recreation that most of us wish we had. The varied involvement that Doug has displayed in our field for almost half a century is unequaled.
For any individual who’s been around for awhile, Sessoms and "Carolina" are one of the same. He is a Tarheel through and through and Doug’s blood runs Carolina blue. He was born in Wilmington, North Carolina and has never spent more than a year outside the state. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1953 under the tutelage of Harold D. Meyer. He became interested in recreation as a field because of his high school jobs with the Wilmington Recreation Department. When he came to Carolina, Harold Meyer was waiting for him. After completing a Masters degree at the University of Illinois where he studied with Charles Brightbill, he returned in 1954 to be an instructor in sociology. He was mentored by Harold Meyer to build Carolina’s recreation curriculum that was housed in the Department of Sociology with the strong social issues focus. Doug completed his doctorate in 1959 from New York University and then progressed through the ranks of assistant, associate, to full professor at UNC. In 1963 he became chair of the Curriculum in Recreation Administration and remained chair for the next 27 years. Doug retired in 1995 into his role as Professor Emeritus.
Dr. Sessoms has been actively involved in NRPA and other professional organizations throughout his lifetime. Doug is a founding member of the Society of Park and Recreation Educators and the Academy of Leisure Sciences. He has held numerous offices in our professional organizations including President of SPRE, President of the Academy of Leisure Sciences, President of the Academy of Park and Recreation Administrators, member of the NRPA Board of Trustees, Chair of the NRPA/AALR Council on Accreditation. For all his service, Doug has been honored with the North Carolina Fellow Award, J.B. Nash Scholar Award, NRPA National Literary Award, and the NRPA Distinguished Professional Award, to name only a few.
Doug Sessoms influences the field of recreation and recreation education in numerous ways but his primary commitment has been related to professional development. For many years he was instrumental in the expansion of the profession through curricula conferences and in his writing and speaking. He was pivotal in the development of the CLP exam and has advocated for professional certification in a number of areas. Doug served on the Council on Accreditation during the time when official status for this specialization accreditation was sought and received. In the 1990s he has continued to volunteer as a visitor to do accreditation on campuses. Even in his "retirement" he chaired the 1997 Curriculum Conference held in Salt Lake City. The purpose of that conference was to begin to set directions for recreation, parks, leisure, and tourism education into the millennium.
Doug’s contribution also relates to his continual challenges to the profession to remember our roots in the social justice movement. He reminds us that we can not serve our constituencies unless we have professional preparation and the skills to make a difference. We also must know the people who we serve and be able to provide leadership and facilitation to enable them to find empowerment in recreation. Doug teaches that we must have a strong understanding and commitment to what we are doing to vocalize to public officials, colleagues, participants, and students. He continues every day of his life to talk about and embody the value of recreation both personally and professionally.
Since Doug retired in 1995, the faculty in the Curriculum in Leisure Studies and Recreation Administration at UNC-CH has been reluctant to let him go. We want our students to know this visionary leader. Students continue to tell us how Doug’s enthusiasm for the field and his obvious commitment to the future of the profession overflows in the classroom. Many successful colleagues in our field describe Doug as their inspiration and mentor. We hope that he will never retire from his daily visits to the office and his willingness to give time to our students and the profession.