Joel Frater is an associate professor and serves as chairperson
and graduate coordinator in the Department of Recreation and Leisure
Studies. He earned his Bachelor's degree from Cheyney University of
Pennsylvania and his Master's and Doctorate degrees from Temple University
of Pennsylvania. He began his professional career in his native Jamaica
as an elementary and secondary school teacher. Since moving to the US,
he has worked as a therapeutic recreation practitioner in brain injury
and psychiatric/substance abuse rehabilitation. Frater has been a teaching
assistant at Temple University, and an instructor at East Carolina University.
He joined the SUNY Brockport faculty in the fall of 1995, and has assumed
major teaching responsibilities in the Recreation Management emphasis,
teaching courses such as Resort Operations, Special Event Planning and
International Tourism at the undergraduate level, and Social Psychology
of Leisure Behavior, Problems in the Administration of Leisure Service
Organizations and Advanced Program Design and Evaluation at the graduate
level. Since 1997, Dr. Frater has been conducting staff development
training for employees in various Caribbean resorts. His research interests
are the impact of tourism, particularly in the Caribbean Region, and
the development of culturally sensitive training modules for employees
in the tourism and hospitality industry.
