Outstanding Academic Advisor Award

Roger Guthrie
2007-08

Roger Guthrie is Outstanding Advisor

Guthrie

Dr. Roger Guthrie has been teaching at California State University, Chico since 1989. He is currently the option coordinator for both the Community and Commercial Recreation Option (CCR) and the Set Events and Tourism Option (SET) in the Department of Recreation and Parks Management. Before coming to CSU, Chico he spent 14 years as the division director for the Recreational Administration Division within the Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation at Southwest Texas State University (currently Texas State University). He holds a BBA in finance from the University of Portland, a BS in parks and recreation management from the University of Oregon, an MA in recreation administration from California State University, Chico, and a PhD in leisure studies from the University of Illinois.

Dr. Guthrie currently teaches the Recreation Budgeting and Finance Management course and the Resort and Lodging Seminar course. During his career he has taught more than ten different recreation and park management courses. He is the academic advisor for 85 to 100 undergraduate CCR and SET option students. He has been both a member on and chaired graduate student committees. He is active in both state and national professional recreation and park organizations. During his career he has served as president of the Educator’s Section of the California Parks and Recreation Society for two separate two-year terms. Dr. Guthrie is a retired lieutenant colonel from the United States Air Force Reserve with 25 years of active and reserve service.

Research activities include a long list of contracts through the California State University Research Foundation with the U. S. Forest Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the California Parks Hospitality Association, California State Parks, the California Department of Water Resources, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and several other agencies collecting recreational user data and economic impact information. These contracts which total over $870,000 are always accomplished in partnership with one or two other members of the Recreation and Parks Management Department and employ undergraduate and/or graduate students from the department.

When asked by the editor of Inside Chico State his reaction to be selected as the University Outstanding Academic Advisor Dr. Guthrie replied:

Being selected as the University Outstanding Academic Advisor means my mentors, both alive and dead, are still making a difference. My professional persona has developed through the influence of my parents, my major professors and my colleagues. I teach, I advise, I do research and I do service. These are the key parts of my career. The tools I use to perform these key functions are a direct reflection of the influence of my mentors. It is my good fortune to have received the very human touch of their tutorage.