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Introducing NRF's New Hartsoe Fellow, Kevin Naaman

August 9, 2019
Kevin Naaman
Kevin Naaman at the Grand Canyon

Kevin Naaman recently joined National Recreation Foundation (NRF) as its new Charles E. Hartsoe Fellow. The prior Hartsoe Fellow, Ryan Zwart, is transitioning to Montreat College now that his Ph.D. studies are coming to an end. We wish Ryan the best. Montreat is lucky to have this recreation pro as a member of its faculty.

In December of 2018, Kevin received an M.S. in Outdoor Recreation from Indiana University’s Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies Department in the School of Public Health. Now, Kevin is pursuing a Ph.D. in Inquiry Methodology in the School of Education. Kevin is passionate about epistemology, research methodology, and statistics. He aspires to become a quantitative research methodologist, but he has not yet decided if he wants to work in academia or as a practitioner.

Kevin is a native Hoosier, born and raised in Indianapolis. He is proud of the fact that he went to a diverse public-school system, where he learned to not only accept people for their differences but to also embrace them. One reason Kevin is thankful for growing up in a diverse environment is because this perspective has helped him become a better researcher. While a public health graduate student, Kevin was always concerned with assessing how equitably distributed some recreation interventions were. One topic of particular interest to Kevin was environmental gentrification.

One of the main reasons Kevin was drawn to working with the NRF is that its mission is focused on serving youth from disadvantaged circumstances. Kevin is excited to work with NRF, to learn about strategic grant-making and creative community approaches to getting kids active and outside. As Kevin’s career unfolds, he hopes to echo NRF’s commitment to providing youth with opportunities to recreate that are meaningful to them and their families.