Cari E. Autry, PhD, LRT/CTRS is an Assistant Professor in Recreational Therapy at the Department of Recreation Sciences at East Carolina University. She received her Ph.D. in Health and Human Performance with a concentration in Therapeutic Recreation and a minor in Special Education from the University of Florida and her M.S. in Recreation Administration with an emphasis in Therapeutic Recreation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has over 80 presentations at state, national, and international conferences related to her research on youth development, the therapeutic use of sailing and virtual reality sailing simulation, adventure therapy, community development, homelessness, social capital and therapeutic recreation in higher education. She has over 20 publications in journals such as the World Leisure Journal (WLJ), International Leisure Review (ILR), Therapeutic Recreation Journal (TRJ), American Therapeutic Recreation Association’s (ATRA) Annual in Therapeutic Recreation, Leisure Sciences, Sociology of Sport Journal, and Leisure/Loisir. In 2020, she was funded a World Leisure Organization Strategic Priorities Grant for her research on adaptive sailing. Cari has also served as an Associate Editor of the TRJ since 2004 and as ATRA’s Research Institute’s Poster Session Co-Chair since 2014. She has been a past guest editor for a special issue on children and youth for the WLJ and for the ILR. Her service to the World Leisure Organization includes being the Special Interest Group (SIG) Chair for Leisure for Children and Youth since 2017 and as the Committee Chair for the Thomas and Ruth Rivers International Scholarship (TRRIS) since 2016. Additional involvement includes being a reviewer for the WLJ and World Leisure Congress abstracts and poster session, a member of the SIGs for Leisure Education and for Diversity, Access and Inclusion and a committee member for the TRRIS from 2006-2016.

WL Communities involvement:

• Research and Knowledge Transfer
• Strategic Priorities Grant