Douglas Kleiber, professor of recreation and leisure at the University, will receive the Society for Park and Recreation Educator’s Distinguished Colleague Award this month.

The award is the highest recognition offered by the organization.

It honors the recipient’s distinguished service to recreation, leisure and park education and research.

Corey Johnson, professor and program coordinator of recreation and leisure studies at the University, said the University was honored to have Kleiber receive the award.

“Our discipline, nationally and internationally, has recognized Doug for extended service to the field and research,” Johnson said.

“We’re delighted, we think it’s well deserved, and probably overdue. And it just brings an increased visibility to our program that we have such distinguished colleagues and researchers in our program.”

John Dattilo, former department head of recreation and leisure studies at the University, worked with Kleiber for 14 years.

He said the award was a great honor for the University.

“[The Distinguished Colleague Award] is an extremely prestigious award in our profession,” said Dattilo, now head of the department of recreation, park and tourism management at Penn. State University.

“Doug is thought of extremely well as an important scholar, but also as a citizen. He is extremely personable, and is well regarded – and to put it bluntly, is a gentle person who is extremely intellectual but not caught up with the ego that is often found in academia,” he said.

Kleiber, when asked what accomplishments had been considered in receiving the award, laughed and said “well, first of all, I got old.”

“It’s really an award that’s given to someone who has done a lot of writing and teaching in the field,” Kleiber said.

“Most of my research has been on leisure and human development. I’ve worked with a lot of good colleagues over the years.”

Johnson said Kleiber is known for his work with students, especially in helping them achieve higher positions within the field.

“Doug is known for mentoring students into junior faculty positions across the field, and I’m actually a product of his mentorship as well,” Johnson said.

“I did my Ph.D. here, and got a chance to come back and work with him as a colleague, and that’s been really beneficial.”

Kleiber said his recent work focuses on the use of leisure in coping with negative life events or life transitions.

Part of his research focuses on the effects of leisure time on people who have lost spouses.

“People who have lost their spouses do a lot of new things to cope. They sort of blossom in all these activities, and that seems to be important,” Kleiber said.

“It also seems important that they continue with other activities they’ve been doing – physical activities, sports, social activities – to cope with these losses.”

Dattilo said the award was largely about honoring Kleiber’s character, and the effect he’s had throughout the years on scholarship and on people.

“Doug Kleiber has had an amazing impact on our profession. And part of the amazement is the level of scholarship, and the level of impact he has brought to our field, all the while being so humble,” Dattilo said.

“He’s the kind of person that you meet and might not realize how important he is because of his humility. I feel privileged to have worked with him for 14 years.”