Peter A. Witt - Author

Peter A. Witt holds the Bradberry Recreation and Youth Development Endowed Chair in the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University.

His major interests are evaluating outcomes of out-of-school time programs offered by school districts, recreation and park departments, and nonprofit agencies.

He is also involved in efforts to identify best practices and characteristics of successful youth development programs.

Most of this work is based on models of risk, resiliency and protective factors, and developmental assets.

Witt has written or edited seven books and authored more than 90 articles on the social psychology of leisure involvement and recreation services for a variety of user groups.

Two of his books (with John Crompton) provide case studies of youth recreation best practices in park and recreation agency settings.

He is the former editor of the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration and former editor of the Journal of Leisure Research and Therapeutic Recreation Journal.

He is an elected member and has served as President of both the Academy of Leisure Sciences and the American Academy of Park and Recreation Administration.

Witt has received numerous awards, including the Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Award for Recreation Research from the National Recreation and Park Association (1988) and the Distinguished Colleague Award from the National Recreation and Park Association.

In 2004, he received the Robert W. Crawford Achievement Award for work in youth development, given annually by the National Recreation Foundation.

Youth Development Principles and Practices in Out-of-School Time Settings, 2nd ed. Print eBook