Michael Blazey is Professor and former Chair of the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at California State University, Long Beach, where he joined the faculty in 1990.  He currently serves as the Interim Chair for the Department of Sociology. Mike received a bachelor's degree in Park and Recreation Management from the University of Oregon in 1974 and a master's in Health, Physical Education and Recreation from South Dakota State University in 1977. Prior to and while working on his master's, he was the Recreation Superintendent for the City of Brookings. Mike completed his doctorate at The Pennsylvania State University in 1984, during which he served as a field researcher for an A.A.R.P. Andrus Foundation grant. Following completion of the doctorate and prior to his current position at CSULB, Mike taught at Washington State University. He has also held teaching positions at South Dakota State University, Kansas State University and Western Carolina University. Past recreation-related employers include the YMCA, the Lane County Juvenile Authority (Oregon), Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., and the City of Ketchikan, Alaska. He has served as editor of the SPRE Newsletter and continues to serve as an associate editor for the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration. Mike has presented at the Leisure Research Symposium and was an invited speaker at the Tourism Society of Korea's annual conference in 2001. Mike authored a chapter on organizational alignments for the recent second edition of Bannon's text on Leisure Resources and is author of a number of travel and tourism related articles, the most recent of which appeared in the International Journal of Tourism Sciences. Mike regularly consults with park and recreation agencies and conducts applied research projects that impact professional practice, needs assessments for the cities of Los Angeles and Lawndale, California and is currently working on a similar project for the City of Newport Beach.  Among professional service activities are service on the SPRE Board of Directors and election to serve as president during the 2003-04 term. Community service activities include service on the City of La Habra Community Development Block Grant Advisory Committee and five years on the Planning Commission. Mike currently serves as treasurer for Girl Scout Junior Troop 1094.

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