Spectrum Industries is helping esports evolve within campus recreation.

In this episode of the Campus Rec Magazine podcast, Rico Francis, the president of Campus Rec Magazine and Peake Media, sits down with Scott Dorn, the executive vice president of sales and marketing at Spectrum Industries.

They chat about the company’s ability to help onsite at universities across the nation, as well as what trends and evolutions Dorn is seeing in esports.

Welcome to the Director Download, powered by Campus Rec Magazine.

It’s time to go behind the curtain of the director role and have honest discussions with leaders in the campus recreation industry.

In this episode, host Grady Sheffield, the director of campus recreation at Towson University and the senior advisor to the Campus Rec Mastermind Groups, gives you the listener real and authentic conversation between himself and special guest Kim Scott, the director of Campus Recreation at Baylor University.

Scott didn’t start off pursuing recreation — but she did start at Baylor. She shares how she found herself suddenly in the campus recreation industry, building a department from scratch. It has led her to where she is today: a changed leader who has learned that relationships and a business mindset are essential for the director role.

As you listen to the following conversation, reflect on how you have changed as a leader yourself. And, ask how recreation can give the next generation what it needs as Scott talks about. You might be surprised what you come up with.

Aktiv is creating unique spaces in the campus rec industry that feel like drop-in boutique experiences.

But what exactly does that look like and how is the company achieving this? In this episode of the Campus Rec Magazine podcast, Rico Francis, the president and co-founder of Peake Media, sits down with Bryan Green, the founder and CEO of Aktiv Solutions, to chat more about who Aktiv is and how they are impacting the space of campus rec.

They discuss how Green got into the fitness industry and founded Aktiv. Diving deeper, they assess what functional training/fitness really is, the creation of energy epicenters and how Aktiv starts projects with the beginning in mind.

Welcome to the Director Download, powered by Campus Rec Magazine.

It’s time to go behind the curtain of the director role and have honest discussions with leaders in the campus recreation industry.

In this episode, host Grady Sheffield, the director of campus recreation at Towson University and the senior advisor to the Campus Rec Mastermind Groups, gives you the listener real and authentic conversation between himself and special guest Jocelyn Hill, the associate athletic director of recreation and aquatics facilities at American University (AU).

With 23 years under her belt at AU, Hill has learned a lot about leadership, especially when it comes to adapting and pivoting. She shares with Sheffield how she’s had to pivot in her thinking as a leader and about the challenges of managing people.

Further on, Hill dives into managing up, her non-negotiables, a key issue campus rec is facing today and why your department should not be an amoeba.

Moody Nolan isn’t just an architecture firm, and Troy Sherrard knows it.

In this episode of the Campus Rec Magazine podcast, Rico Francis, the president and co-founder of Peake Media, sits down with Sherrard, a partner and practice design leader of Sports and Recreation at Moody Nolan.

They talk about how Moody Nolan is different and unique in the realm of architecture firms. In addition, Sherrard shares how they are architects without egos. Plus, he dives into the impact their four unique pillars can have on campus rec directors.

Finally, he shares his assessment on trends — especially when it comes to simulators — and the future of Moody Nolan.

Welcome to the Director Download, powered by Campus Rec Magazine.

It’s time to go behind the curtain of the director role and have honest discussions with leaders in the campus recreation industry.

In this episode, host Grady Sheffield, the director of campus recreation at Towson University and the senior advisor to the Campus Rec Mastermind Groups, gives you the listener real and authentic conversation between himself and special guest Jorge Juarez, the executive director of Sun Devil Fitness at Arizona State University.

Juarez shares about his humble beginnings and the road he took to finally leave Texas, finding himself at Arizona State.

He and Sheffield also talk about the role of family and work-life balance. It started early in his career but has continued to be an important aspect of his role as a director, especially when it comes to overseeing four separate facilities on four distinct campuses.

So whether it’s moderating the 2023 Campus Rec Leadership Summit, diving into the realm of well-being or participating in the Hi How Are You Campaign, I hope you can hear in the following conversation how Juarez works to find a work-life balance amidst all he does.

Welcome to the Director Download, powered by Campus Rec Magazine.

It’s time to go behind the curtain of the director role and have honest discussions with leaders in the campus recreation industry.

In this episode, host Grady Sheffield, the director of campus recreation at Towson University and the senior advisor to the Campus Rec Mastermind Groups, gives you the listener real and authentic conversation between himself and special guest Teri Bladen, the director of Weber State University.

Putting herself through school, Bladen found soon that she loved working in campus recreation. Eventually, she would find herself at Weber State.

Since her time there, well-being has evolved. A big part of that evolution has happened when it comes to professional and hourly staff.

Whether it’s tapping into their passions or being more flexible with uniforms, Bladen shares that if her staff are taken care of, so is she.

As you listen, I challenge you to think through how you are serving your own staff’s well-being. What suggestions or trains of thought can you take from the following conversation to improve the well-being of your own professional and hourly staff?

Welcome to the Director Download, powered by Campus Rec Magazine.

It’s time to go behind the curtain of the director role and have honest discussions with leaders in the campus recreation industry.

In this episode, host Grady Sheffield, the director of campus recreation at Towson University and the senior advisor to the Campus Rec Mastermind Groups, gives you the listener real and authentic conversation between himself and special guest Greg Durham, the director of Recreation and Wellness at Creighton University.

Durham found himself in the director’s seat much quicker than he expected after a journey with various twists and turns. As such, he speaks to being a young and new director both at the university table and in his role as the NIRSA Region V rep.

He and Sheffield chat about Durham’s growth in handling decisions, the surprising thing he had to step away from as a director and overcoming imposter syndrome.

I hope you enjoy the following conversation and walk away with new insight to fuel your own leadership growth.

Welcome to the Director Download, powered by Campus Rec Magazine.

It’s time to go behind the curtain of the director role and have honest discussions with leaders in the campus recreation industry.

In this episode, host Grady Sheffield, the director of campus recreation at Towson University and the senior advisor to the Campus Rec Mastermind Groups, gives you the listener real and authentic conversation between himself and special guests, Silvia Chan and Jay Frain at the University of Connecticut (UConn).

Chan and Frain have been working together at UConn for over 20 years. They’ve learned to work with one another’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as candor and honesty.

The working relationship they have reflects the team atmosphere at UConn Recreation as a whole. Chan and Frain share on how that culture has come about, the shared vision the team works together to form and why they each have stayed in the field.

Plus, the conversation touches on generational differences when it comes to work and how to lead staff in those dissimilarities.

Enjoy the honesty, the banter and more in the conversation that follows.

In this episode, host Grady Sheffield, the director of campus recreation at Towson University and the senior advisor to the Campus Rec Mastermind Groups, gives you the listener real and authentic conversation between himself and special guest, Laura Hall, the director of Recreational Sports at the University of Florida (UF).

In this interview, Hall shares about the unorthodox way she entered campus recreation and the lessons she was able to pull from her unique past experiences — hint, it has to do with coaching.

Eventually, she found herself at Penn State, creating a department through the years only to one day lead it during a pandemic. It was a tough experience and there are things she would have done differently. However, in need of a reset, she found her way to the University of Florida where she’s taken well-being and flexibility to a new level.

Listen to her lessons learned, experiences had and more in the conversation that follows.