People.

APPOINTMENTS

The city of Alexandria's (Va.) Department of Parks, Natural Resources and Capital Projects has recently announced several new hires. Among them:

Kirk Kincannon has accepted the position of deputy director of the department. A 1980 graduate of Virginia Wesleyan College, Kincannon has worked for the town of Herndon and Fairfax County parks and recreation departments, both in Virginia. He was previously employed as the director of Wythe County Parks and Recreation.

Allison Perso, formerly NRPA's certification coordinator and Student Branch liaison, has joined Alexandria's parks team as a project assistant. Her tasks in her new position include facilitating the agency's accreditation process and helping to establish master plans for both a dog park and a skatepark development project.

Joe Huff has been appointed executive director of the Recreation and Parks Commission of Maryville-Alcoa-Blount County (Tenn.). Huff will be responsible for the management and direction of parks, recreation programs, and facilities. For the past 10 years, Huff had served as the assistant director of the commission. He currently resides on the executive board of the Tennessee Recreation and Parks Association.

With more than 12 years' experience as an executive-level manager in parks and recreation at a variety of city and county agencies, John Overstreet brings extensive knowledge in development, project management, and special facilities planning to the Atlanta office of EDAW, the world's largest urban design and planning firm.

Overstreet joins EDAW following his most recent assignment as deputy director of the DeKalb County (Ga.) Parks and Recreation Department, where he managed all budgets, information systems, contracts, personnel, grants, risk management, capital projects, systems planning, marketing, and revenue centers for development. Overstreet's other experience includes project-planning positions for the National Park Service, city of Myrtle Beach (S.C.), and Macon (Ga.) Downtown Redevelopment Strategy, as well as director roles with the city of Lake Worth Leisure Services and the City of Oviedo Recreation and Parks Department, both of which are located in Florida.

"EDAW recognizes the importance of public/private partnerships and the positive economic impact of parks in our cities as well as the enhancement of the quality of life for the community at large," said Overstreet. "EDAW considers all of these factors high priorities when working on its projects."

The Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism at the University of Missouri has announced the faculty appointment of Dr. Shu TianCole as assistant professor. Dr. TianCole, who received her Ph.D. at Texas A&M University, joined the MU faculty following her position as lecturer at San Jose State University during the 1999-2000 academic year. While attending Texas A&M, she received various awards including the William B. Keeling Meritorious Award and the J. Desmond Slattery Marketing Award from the Travel and Tourism Research Association. Her publications have appeared in the Journal of Travel Research and the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration.

Dr. TianCole's responsibilities at MU will include leadership and teaching in the tourism academic concentration at the baccalaureate and graduate levels, as well as continued research in the discipline. Her current research has been focused in service aspects of community-based tourism.

The Hitchcock Design Group's Recreation Design Team has elected Patty King to the position of senior associate. Bill Inman, vice president and head of the team, said, "Patty's promotion is well-deserved. Her planning and design expertise, coupled with her extensive field experience and great leadership, make her a valuable asset to our management team."

King is a registered landscape architect and a certified playground safety inspector with six years of professional experience.

AWARDS

Graphic designer Ruth Bielobocky has been selected to appear in Print magazine's Design Annual 2000 for her development of NRPA's National Programs logo. Bielobocky's design work was selected from more than 32,000 individual entries from each state. The work selected for this award represents the best design, illustration, and photography produced in the United States.

RETIREMENTS

Dr. Jim Brademas, associate professor in the Department of Leisure Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has announced his retirement, effective in December, after 26 years. Brademas, who received his Ph.D. in leisure studies in 1976, was appointed the first superintendent of the Rockford (Ill.) Park District, where he served until 1960. He has also served as project director for the Illinois Rural Recreation Development Project, a program designed to introduce recreation activities within small towns.