Cindy L. Hartman, Assistant Professor, Recreation Management and Policy

Cindy Hartman

Associate Professor
Associate Professor
Phone: (603) 862-3795
Office: Recreation Management & Policy, Hewitt Hall Rm 108, Durham, NH 03824

I am an Associate Professor in Recreation Management and Policy at the University of New Hampshire.

My research focuses on the relationship between identity development and free-time experiences and pursuits (e.g., including organized recreation programming, informal learning, leisure pursuits) across major developmental transitions during late adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood. I seek to understand how youth and young adults plan for their futures and pursue lives of meaning through educational, career, family, and recreational pursuits while incorporating and balancing societal and cultural influences about who to be and how to live. In other words, I seek to understand how individuals manage autonomy (freedom from constraints vs. freedom to flourish) while maintaining connection across the lifespan. By using psychosocial and narrative approaches to understand identity development, my ultimate goal is to support individuals in their identity processes and create potential for positive identity outcomes, including future orientation, well-being, and life satisfaction. I seek to work with youth-serving educational, workforce organizations, and recreation/wellness programs to improve programs and services for young people at these important life transitions.

My specific research aims include:
• Utilizing and promoting psychosocial and narrative identity models/theories in research on free-time experiences and pursuits (e.g., including organized recreation programming, informal learning, leisure pursuits)
• Understand balancing free-time experiences and pursuits with academic, work, and family identities
• Develop and promote free-time experiences and pursuits to support identity development and subsequent future orientation, well-being, and life satisfaction

Courses Taught

  • RMP 661: Leadership in Recreation
  • RMP 668: Youth Culture and Programs
  • RMP 700H: Senior Honors Project
  • RMP 724: Grantsmanship, Eval & Research
  • RMP 724/824: Research and Evaluation
  • RMP 800: Concepts Recreation & Leisure
  • RMP 970: Teaching Practicum
  • RMP 980: Independent Study

Education

  • Ph.D., Clemson University
  • M.S., ParksRecreationLeisureFaciMgmt, Clemson University
  • B.S., Texas A & M University

Research Interests

  • Career Education & Planning
  • Identity
  • Recreational & Leisure Activities
  • Wellness
  • Youth Development/Leadership
  • Human Development
  • Narrative
  • Rural Studies

Selected Publications

  • Hartman, C. L., Anderson, D. M., & Barcelona, R. J. (2022). College-attending emerging adults' free time perception profiles: Relationships with well-being and identity development. JOURNAL OF LEISURE RESEARCH, 53(4), 512-531. doi:10.1080/00222216.2021.1999780

  • Hartman, C. L., & Bonica, M. J. (2019). A transdisciplinary, longitudinal investigation of early careerists? leisure during the school-to-work transition. JOURNAL OF LEISURE RESEARCH, 50(5), 438-460. doi:10.1080/00222216.2019.1594467

  • Gillard, A., Hartman, C. L., & Craig, P. J. (2019). Fostering Adolescent Identity Exploration across the Three Phases of a Camp Program. JOURNAL OF PARK AND RECREATION ADMINISTRATION, 37(3), 34-52. doi:10.18666/JPRA-2019-8905

  • Hartman, C. L., Evans, K. E., & Anderson, D. M. (2017). Promoting Adaptive Coping Skills and Subjective Well-Being through Credit-Based Leisure Education Courses. JOURNAL OF STUDENT AFFAIRS RESEARCH AND PRACTICE, 54(3), 303-315. doi:10.1080/19496591.2017.1331852