This study identified the competencies that CEOs in public parks and recreation agencies in the United States perceived they needed in order to perform their duties. Two simultaneous Delphi techniques were used with two different cohorts of CEOs. Thirty jurors were selected from each group with 22 per group agreeing to participate. During the four step process, the jurors were asked to: (a) list competencies they perceived as important for the CEO position; (b) rank the importance of the competency in relation to their job; (c) determine if the categories derived from the results in the previous rounds were accurate; and (d) determine the perceived importance of the competency category to the CEO. Based on the results of the Delphi process, the CEO Competency Framework was developed consisting of three levels of specificity including six general competency categories 20 primary competencies and 72 specific competencies.

This study generated a systematic and comprehensive view of park and recreation CEO competencies by examining how CEOs in public parks and recreation subjectively ranked various competencies using Q-sorts and Q-methodology. Results found three different types of CEOs: the practical CEO, the structured CEO, and the traditionalist CEO. The Practical CEO focused on employee involvement in decision making thus making the work environment a more positive and reinforcing place. The Structured CEO placed an emphasis on structure, organization, and skills. The Traditionalist CEO placed emphasis on formal skill sets, task orientation, and external validation of skills. Understanding that the importance of specific competencies is viewed from different perspectives allows a more informed understanding of how CEOs in public parks and recreation perceive the importance of competencies.

About this bookAs the epigraph suggest, cities are to become one of the chief policy concerns of the 21 st century. Moreover, cities are unique policy realms in that urbanization is an issue and process that resides at the nexus of human and physical systems and unites the research and policy interests of natural and social scientists alike. This is true as urbanization as a process unites often-disparate social and physical systems to create entirely new policy challenges such as environmental degradation, the development and maintenance of physical and social infrastructures, the challenge of expanding economic opportunities, designing effective service delivery regimes that promote the overall sustainability of urban areas, and assessing the policy outcomes. Consequently, researchers and policy makers are concerned with identifying and overcoming the full range of challenges associated with urban systems. Unfortunately, the ability of researchers and planners to assess and investigate complex urban systems has been somewhat frustrated by a lack effective and accessible research and decision making tools. Over the past fifteen years, remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) have been shown to provide an excellent way to investigate urban areas. However, the availability, "usability", and range of potential applications of these technologies had until recently been limited to a community of specialists and scientistist. Today remote

One of the challenges of traditional student learning, from an instructor's perspective, involves achieving an understanding of how students learn. Q-method is an effective approach to improve understanding of human subjectivity, and, as this research suggests, it is an appropriate tool to assist educators to better understand how students learn. In particular, Q-methodology provides the educator with a robust tool to assess student learning styles. This paper adapted an existing learning style instrument to a Q-method analysis in an introductory geographic information system class. The analysis resulted in three learning groups: lone pragmatist, explorer, and synergistic. These three learning groups are described. The paper concludes that the use of Q-method can deepen understanding of students' learning skills and improve instruction through more balanced and learner-focused curricular approaches. Ó

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