Risking everything: Betty van der Smissen's contributions have influenced outdoor programming, legal liability, research and the accreditation fields.

For the past 50 years, Betty van der Smissen has blazed her own path. She entered the legal profession at a time when women were the exception. She continued as a leader through her career-long involvement in revising and developing national accreditation standards for universities, park and recreation agencies, organized camping and adventure/challenge programs. Additionally, her research on legal liability and negligence in recreation remains the authority today. But the icon of recreation does not think she has made that much of an impact, although, her friends and colleagues disagree.

"What happens with our leaders like Betty, who have been in the field for the length of time her career spans, is people get so used to them being there that they don't necessarily realize all of their accomplishments and contributions," says Rita Yerkes, dean of the school of experiential leadership at Aurora University.

In 1965, van der Smissen completed the reference guide, Standards and Evaluative Criteria, which introduced best management practices for parks and recreation operations. Concurrently, she delved into research, compiling the first bibliography of theses and dissertations for parks, recreation and camping. During this time she also served on the first editorial board of the Journal of Leisure Research.

van der Smissen combined her interests in recreation and law in her 1968 book, Legal Liability of Cities and Schools for Injuries in Parks and Recreation, and in the early '70s introduced a course on legal aspects at Penn State University. However, it was not until the early 1980s, when legal liability and risk management became real issues with key decisions in lawsuits reducing the immunity protection of municipalities and non-profit groups.

"We became a very litigious society [back then]," van der Smissen says, "and these entities began to be held responsible for injuries. All of this business of litigation came really after I published my book, and I happened to have the right background and education that permitted me to contribute uniquely to the profession," van der Smissen says. It was during this period that she began giving sessions at conferences nationwide on the new risks and liabilities of parks and recreation.

The adventure/challenge programming and camping always have been interests to van der Smissen, who has contributed her accreditation knowledge and legal liability and risk management to both fields. Before she became president of the American Camp Association in 1980, she played an integral role in the first major revision of its standards since they were adopted in 1948.

She is currently working on a book about managing the legal risks of adventure and challenge programs. She was also on the original task three for the Association of Experiential Education (AEE) to develop accreditation for adventure-based programming. But through all of her professional and academic pursuits, she has remained a professor and advisor, helping students complete more than 100 dissertations and theses.

"One of her greatest strengths is how unselfishness she is with her time with professionals in the field," says Yerkes, who became friends with her through professional associations such as NRPA--where van der Smissen was a board of trustee member from 1988-1990. "She is one of the finest intellects in our profession," Yerkes says.

Despite all of her accomplishments, van der Smissen continues to research, publish and advise. In 1990, she published a comprehensive three-volume work on risk management encompassing parks and recreation, organized camping, adventure/challenge programs and sport. "There simply is nobody else who has even approached what she has done in the area, in terms of writing and speaking and serving on committees by which standards are formed and liability issues are better understood," says Reb Gregg, a leading attorney in the outdoor field.

For all her dedication, van der Smissen has been recognized with at least two scholarships in her name, and she has received several distinguished awards including the American Bar Association's Vanguard Award.