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Professional Development Opportunities

The Executive Development Program

The Executive Development Program (EDP) for Park and Recreation Professionals provides training and networking opportunities to professionals with a focus on the latest concepts, practices, and management techniques needed to continually improve themselves, their departments, and the communities they serve.

The Executive Development Program is a two-year program. Each year consists of a 22- to 30-hour week of intense classroom instruction. The week begins on Sunday evening with registration, dinner and orientation and closes on Thursday evening with a graduation banquet.

Edith Upchurch

The Edith Upchurch Innovative Programming Forum was established in 1974 as a venue to provide educational opportunities specifically intended for recreation programmers. With agency budgets being cut and programmers being asked to do more with less, this conference offers direct service providers with the best and most innovative recreation programs and ideas in our profession.

The Summit on the Value of Play

“The Summit on the Value of Play,” was held on June 14 - 16, 2009 at the Clemson University Madren Conference Center, Clemson, SC will strive to address our nation’s problem with the erosion of the value of play. We are all beginning to see the negative impacts from the lack of play among our citizens, including obesity, attention deficit disorder and limited creativity, to name a few. This summit addressed the measurable benefits of play; highlight the current political, economic and social barriers that stifle play and identify existing and new opportunities to overcome these barriers.