Veda Ward Practices Leadership to Inspire, Teach, and Empower New Leaders
The life of an academic is a life of curiosity and sharing, and Veda Ward, Professor of Recreation and Tourism Management, and former Department Chair, exemplifies this. She has been with CSUN since 1990 and has a wealth of experience and knowledge in administration, Women’s Studies, and Urban Studies and Planning. She uses her natural leadership skills to inspire, teach, and empower new leaders.
Ward’s works include topics such as creating community, studies of women as “social warriors” in community service, and the plasticity of peace tourism such as visiting historic sites to participate in cultural exchanges in support of peace initiatives, nurturing curriculum development, or toward student matriculation. Contemporary examples for peace tourism include Hiroshima, the DMZ, and Ukraine and the sites of the Holocaust.
At the 2024 CSUN Health and Human Development Research Conference, Ward gave a presentation on the Application of Experiential Reflection Analysis to Professional Growth. The idea was to motivate students and faculty to value and bring their insights and experiences in their professional lives. Building on her initial doctoral investigation, she used a case study approach that can also be used by her graduate and undergraduate students to deepen the meaning of their internships. Students can develop transferable skills that they can apply in both personal and professional contexts.
Ward was recently honored with the 2025 Merit Award from the RT (Recreation Therapy) Section Board of Directors at the annual Recreation Therapy Institute. This was in recognition of outstanding and significant contributions to the field of recreation and recreation therapy. She received the award in March at the California Parks and Recreation Society (CPRS) annual Connections conference in Sacramento, CA.
“This recognition was meaningful not only because it was unexpected, but that it came from professional peers,” Ward said, “I began my career as a recreation aide in the City of Baltimore and have never waivered from my commitment to this profession, its organizations, and those who advance its mission for health, well-being and belonging.”
She also received a Certificate of Appreciationat THEREPS (Tourism, Hospitality and Event conference for Researchers, Educators, Practitioners and Students) in Flushing, New York, in April. Ward previously worked with RTM professors Joong-Won Lee and HeeKyung Sung supporting department graduate students research and presentations.
The conference, sponsored by the Korea America Hospitality Tourism Educators Association (KAHTEA), also accepted a stand-up presentation of a research project by a group of graduate students from one of Ward’s courses which teaches students ways to apply key concepts and practices in human resource management to the tourism, hospitality and recreation industries (RTM 540: Human Resources in Recreational Sport and Tourism). The students’ project was called, “Beyond DEI: Rethinking Workplace Accessibility for True Inclusion and Belonging” (authors D. Scott, F. Siufi, S. Fahoum, L. Tucker, E. Guillermo, J. Kilty, and E. Lauren). While the students were not able to attend due to schedule conflicts and lack of funding, the recognition was a meaningful step in their careers as well as for the RTM department, its faculty and CSU Northridge, and Ward echoed their voices at the conference.
“I began working with KAHTEA several years ago to increase placement of Korean scholars receiving their doctorates and wishing to teach at US universities,” Ward reflected. “This built upon my commitment to access and diversity in higher education, and it’s consistent with my commitment to CSU Northridge as an Hispanic serving institution and my teaching courses on gender, aging and for the differently abled.”
Always learning, this semester, Ward completed the Faculty Development ACUE LE micro-credential training for creating an equitable and inclusive environment in online education, which is critical to effective personal and professional engagement
And Ward recognizes the value of good judgement: CSUNPosium is CSUN’s annual conference where students can showcase their research and creative project. Last April, Ward served as a faculty judge for CSUNPosium. She viewed posters and interacted with student presenters in the University Student Union’s Northridge Center.
On serving as a judge, Ward said, “The CSUNPosium gave me an opportunity to interact with students in a campus-wide setting where they became the proud purveyors of knowledge they had acquired and applied throughout their time at CSUN. I was proud to have been selected to be a judge, to meet and work with other faculty members who also served as judges. It was exciting, and challenging to be wearing a different hat, going beyond my typical role as well as meeting different students. Once again, I learned something new!”
Veda Elaine Ward, Ph.D., was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Catonsville MD, and attended public school in Baltimore County. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Bucknell University (1972), Masters at University of Baltimore (1978), University of Redlands (2011), and doctorate at University of Maryland, College Park (1984). Ward was employed by the Baltimore City Bureau of Recreation, in fitness and hospitality followed by 12 years at University of MD before joining CSU Northridge in 1990. Professor Ward chaired three Faculty Senate Standing Committees and has served as Faculty Advisor to Associated Students, Inc. for more than a decade. Emphasis on community service learning, experiential learning and professional leadership complement publications, presentations, student support and interdisciplinary participation.
Sp2025
Jean O’Sullivan/HHD