Nathan A. Schaumleffel, Ph.D., CPRP is an assistant professor in the Department of Recreation and Sport Management and serves as coordinator of the Recreation Management and Youth Leadership Concentration.  Dr. Schaumleffel also serves as Campus Executive Director of the American Humanics nonprofit management certificate program and as Project Director of the Indiana Rural Recreation Development Project (InRRDP).   Dr. Schaumleffel is currently a Faculty Fellow with Indiana Campus Compact and with ISU’s Center for Public Service and Community Engagement.

He completed his Ph.D. in Recreation Administration and Youth and Community Development at the University of Illinois in 2005.  Dr. Schaumleffel completed both his Master's degree (2001) and Bachelor's degree (1998) in Recreation Administration at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.  He has also earned an Associate of Arts (1996) and an Associate of Sciences (1999) from Belleville (Illinois) Area College (now Southwestern Illinois College).    

Dr. Schaumleffel teaches undergraduate classes in the areas of public administration of recreation and park systems, management, nonprofit management, youth and community development, leisure theory, and leadership and group dynamics.  Dr. Schaumleffel is also a regular member of the graduate faculty at ISU with an endorsement to chair thesis and dissertation committees.   He also supervises internships and serves on the ISU-Field Campus Management Team, as well as advises the American Humanics Student Association, Epsilon Tau Pi Eagle Scout fraternity, and coordinates the Rho Phi Lambda Honorary Professional Recreation, Park, and Leisure Service Fraternity chapter.

He has written and presented in numerous places on leisure service administration in rural communities and small-towns in Illinois and Indiana, as well on topics related to managing youth programs and the role of program leaders in achieving youth development outcomes.  In April 2006, Dr. Schaumleffel published an article on media relations in Parks and Recreation magazine.  Also, he has recently published articles in the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration on: 1) the role of public park and recreation agencies and professionals in emergency management capacity-building, and 2) the relationship between individuals’ attitudes towards public park and recreation services and an individuals’ level of community satisfaction in rural Illinois communities.  He has also recently published an article in a British journal, Managing Leisure, on program leaders' intention to process recreation experiences to achieve targeted developmental outcomes and an article on professional student organizations in the Indiana Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance Journal.   Dr. Schaumleffel recently spoke at the 2006 and 2007 National Recreation and Park Association congresses and at the 2006 and 2007 American Camp Association national conferences on research regarding staff training and youth development programs in public park and recreation agencies, camps, and nonprofit youth-serving organizations.  Currently, he is continuing his research on: 1) youth development and program leaders, and 2) sustainable rural community development.  Currently, his major research project underway is the 2007 Emerging Trends and Issues in American Camps study in collaboration with the American Camp Association where he will be presenting the findings at the 2008 International Camping Congress in Quebec, Canada.   Dr. Schaumleffel also recently published a textbook chapter on Senior Olympics/Senior Games in a new textbook by Dr. Tom Sawyer and Dr. Kimberly J. Bodey titled: Sport governance and policy development: An ethical approach to managing sport in the 21^st century.

Dr. Schaumleffel also is founder and serves as Project Director of the Indiana Rural Recreation Development Project (InRRDP). The InRRDP's mission is, by using an ecological framework and through a self-help community development approach, to develop sustainable local park, recreation, leisure, and tourism services that achieve individual, community, economic, and environmental benefits in rural Indiana communities through active and representative civic participation, youth development, collaboration, and research.  He recently published an article on agritourism and rural economic development in the Indiana Business Review.  Currently, Dr. Schaumleffel recently completed  a master plan for parks and recreation for the Clay City-Harrison Township, Indiana R.E.I.N. Coalition, and is hosting training seminars for rural park board members in the area of developing park foundations to generate revenue.  Nathan also serves as the coordinator for the Small Town Initiative for the Indiana Park and Recreation Association.

Dr. Schaumleffel recently hosted Indiana State University’s first Wilderness Medical Associates - Wilderness First Responder course at the ISU Field Campus, and will be hosting the 3^rd annual American Camp Association-Indiana Section winter conference on-campus in October 2008.  In February 2008, Dr. Schaumleffel hosted the Central District of the Indiana Park and Recreation Association at ISU and will be hosting IPRA again in April 2009.  He is also serving on the national American Camp Association (ACA) Student Camp Leadership Academy planning committee, national Media Team, and the ACA-Indiana Section Education and Scholarship Committees.  Dr. Schaumleffel has also established a controlled practicum site for ISU students through ISU Residence Life Department at the University Apartments facility to better prepare students to program recreation activities and to work with youth.

Dr. Schaumleffel is also finalizing the process of having the Recreation Management and Youth Leadership Concentration accredited by the Indiana YouthPRO Association, which will be the first accredited collegiate professional youth work program in the State of Indiana.  Nathan also chairs the Indiana Youth Development credentialing committee for the Indiana YouthPRO Association.

Dr. Schaumleffel founded and currently serves as President and CEO of the Recreation Development Network, a nonprofit consulting and training organization.  He has also served in a variety of other professional roles that includes: Project Manager of the Illinois Rural Recreation Development Project, Director of Recreation at the Union County (Illinois) Housing Authority, Special Facilities Manager for the Belleville (Illinois) Parks and Recreation Department, Aquatics Instructor and After School program director at YMCAs, and in several management roles at multiple day and resident camps (e.g., DuBois Center, Touch of Nature Environmental Center, Family Housing Recreation, Philmont Scout Ranch, Camp Joy, Camp Vandeventer).  He also regularly conducts staff training and board training for public and nonprofit agencies.

In Terre Haute, Indiana, Dr. Schaumleffel serves on the Wabash Valley District Committee for the Crossroads of America Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and serves on the Council Aquatics Committee.  Dr. Schaumleffel serves as a lifeguard, CPR, 1^st Aid, AED, and Oxygen Administration instructor for the local chapter of the American Red Cross.  He also volunteers his time with the local Senior Olympics and state-level Special Olympics competitions.  He also occasionally advises the local Park Board and recently worked to establish a shelter agreement between the American Red Cross and the Terre Haute Park Board.  Unfortunately, this shelter agreement had to be enacted; so that the Booker T. Washington Community Center could serve as the Terre Haute Flood Relief Headquarters for FEMA and the American Red Cross in 2008.  He is also currently forming a Meadow Woods Crossing Neighborhood Association and working with city planning on trail and greenway development.

Dr. Schaumleffel's main interest areas are community recreation, rural recreation development, youth and community development, nonprofit management, fiscal management of rural and small-town agencies, camp management, outdoor recreation, and aquatics.  He is a member of the Indiana Park and Recreation Association, National Recreation and Park Association, American Camp Association, Community Development Society, Indiana YouthPRO Association, and National AfterSchool Association.

Dr. Schaumleffel and his wife, Missy, have two children: sons Coleman and Cooper.