Kristi M. Fondren, an associate professor of sociology at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, was named the winner of the Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Award for Excellence in Recreation and Park Research. The award is presented by the National Recreation and Park Association. Dr. Fondren will be honored at the association’s annual convention in St. Louis this fall.
Dr. Fondren is being honored for her book Walking on the Wild Side: Long Distance Hiking on the Appalachian Trail (Rutgers University Press, 2015). She has been conducting research on long-distance hiking since 2005.
Dr. Fondren joined the faculty at Marshall University in 2010. She is a graduate of the Mississippi University for Women, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree in education and a Ph.D. in sociology from Mississippi State University.