Begum Aybar Damali

Education

• Post-Doctoral Fellow | Clemson University (2007) 
• PhD: Park, Recreation and Tourism Management | Clemson University (2007) 
• MS: Industrial Management | Clemson University (2002) 
• BS: Psychology | Middle East Technical University | Turkey (1999) 

Teaching Areas

• Foundations of Recreation and Leisure 
• Evaluation
• Therapeutic Recreation Services, Programming, Trends, and Issues

Research

Leisure behavior, relevance of leisure experience to human development and growth.

Selected Publications & Presentations

• Kleiber, D. A., Fortune, D., & Aybar-Damali, B. Z. (Submitted to be printed in 2024). Selective social leisure engagement as a pathway to aging well. In M. Stodolska, D. Scott, & T. Lietchty (Eds.), Leisure Matters: Exploring Leisure in a Changing World (4th ed., pp. 237-244).
• Kleiber, D., Aybar-Damali, B., & McGuire, F. A. (Presented: March, 2022). ‘Wisemen’ managing their free time during a pandemic. The Academy of Leisure Sciences, Annual Conference.
• Aybar-Damali, B., McGuire, F., & Kleiber, D. (2021). Adaptation to the COVID-19 Pandemic among older adults in the United States. World Leisure Journal, 0, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/16078055.2021.1957009

Supervising Student Research

RTTR students who are interested in pursuing their own research interests have a chance to design and conduct their own research through independent studies for credit or not-for-credit.

Examples from projects supervised by Dr. Aybar Damali:

• Sociability of public places
• Evaluation of community events (e.g., Earth Day)
• Part-time employee retention and loyalty