Michael Gass
mgass@unh.edu
603.862.2024

Coordinator, Outdoor Education Option, Professor

Education - University of Colorado, Ph.D., Post-doctoral work in marriage and family therapy

Courses - Adventure Therapy, Program Evaluation in Adventure Programming, Rock Climbing, Organization and Administration of Outdoor Education

Research Interests – Adventure Therapy, Social Development of Adolescents in Adventure Programs, Corporate Adventure Training, Adventure Program Accreditation, Adventure Programming and Middle School Students, Wilderness Orientation Programs

Michael Gass serves as current Chair of the Department of Kinesiology. He received his Ph.D. in experiential education from the University of Colorado at Boulder and has completed postdoctoral studies in marriage and family therapy. He is one of the creators of the Browne Center, one of the most important elements of the Outdoor Education Program in the Department.

Mike’s current research projects include joining efforts with Project Adventure (Massachusetts and Georgia), the Santa Fe Mountain
Center (New Mexico), the Marimed Foundation (Hawaii), and American Sail Training Association (Maine, Maryland, and Washington). Examples of his current research studies include:

• Residential treatment of juveniles in a sex offender program using an adventure-based behavior management program
• The effectiveness of adventure therapy for juvenile delinquents
• Current descriptions of National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) Members
• Dealing with issues of program effectiveness, cost benefit analysis, and treatment fidelity
• The effectiveness of adventure therapy supervision in enhancing treatment
• The effectiveness of an adventure education program in urban middle school student academic and social development
• The effectiveness of an adventure-based anti bullying program with middle school children

In 1998 Mike received the Association for Experiential Education’s Outstanding Experiential Teacher of the Year Award, and in 2002 he delivered the Kurt Hahn Address for AEE. In 2005 he received the UNH School of Health and Human Service’s Distinguished Career Research Award. He is the current Editor if the Journal for Therapeutic Schools and Programs, published by the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs.

Brent Bell
bbell@unh.edu
603.862.3047

Associate Professor

Education - University of New Hampshire, Ph.D. 2005

Courses - Philosophy and Methods of Outdoor Education, Psychological Aspects of Adventure Education, Risk and the Human Experience, Adventure Based Travel—Backpacking, Wilderness Emergency Medicine.

Research interests - Student transitions and social support, specifically focused on wilderness pre-orientation programs.

Brent Bell is an assistant professor in the Outdoor Education Program. His research involves the use of small
group wilderness programs as a tool for social support and community development, specifically focusing on how students transition from high school to college. These outdoor orientation programs are a significant segment of outdoor education in the United States with four-year college yearly participant rates in excess of 18,000 students and 3,000 trained leaders.

A sample of his publications include:

Bell, B.J. (in press). Assessing the effectiveness of an adventure-based First Year Experience class. Journal of College Student Development.

Bell, B. J., Holmes, M. R. & Williams, B. G. (in press). A Census of Outdoor Orientation Programs at Four-Year Colleges in the United States. Journal of Experiential Education.

Bell, B. J. (2006). Wilderness orientation: Exploring the relationship between college pre-orientation programs and social support. Journal of Experiential Education, 29(2), 145-167.

Bell, B. J (2003) Critical concerns regarding the contemporary rites of passage model.  Journal of Experiential Education, 25(3), 10-21.

Brent is currently updating the second Neighborhood Project for 2011, an every five-year census of all outdoor orientation programs at four-year colleges in the United States. With his graduate student Marion Holmes, he actively maintains a compiled list of all outdoor orientation research. This is available by email request. Brent also administers the outdoor orientation program symposium, a bi-annual meeting of outdoor orientation programs.

Brent received his Ph.D. from UNH in 2005, returning after a successful undergraduate experience in its Outdoor Education Program in the 1980s. Prior to joining the UNH faculty, Brent directed the First-Year Outdoor Program at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. He has also worked with therapeutic adventure programs, been an assistant camp director and served as a program director for an adventure travel company. In 1991, Brent developed an outdoor leadership program at New England College in Henniker, N.H. He was a longtime member of the Northeast Advisory Board for the Association of Experiential Education (1996-2007) and has worked extensively with program accreditation (1996- present). He is co-author, along with Bob Baird and Drew Leemon, of the “Guide to Managing Risks in Wilderness Education,” published by United Educators.”

Brent is a Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician (since 1988), and has a long history of active participation in emergency medical care, including service on the Henniker, NH, Rescue Squad (1993-2000) and a National Ski Patrol (1980-2005). Currently he is a wilderness first-aid instructor for SOLO in North Conway, NH.

In 2009, Brent received the Kark Rohnke Award for Creativity from the Association for Experiential Education. This was granted in part for his creative classroom assignments and his dedication to outdoor orientation programming. He is a self-described “ski and bike nut,” logging over 10,000 bike touring miles and many more commuter miles. His ski experience includes instructing, patrolling, and racing. Brent resides in Durham, NH, with his wife Beth Potier and their son Holden.

Jayson Seaman
jseaman@unh.edu
603.862.1162

Associate Professor

Education – Jayson received his Ph.D. in Education from the University of New Hampshire in 2006. He holds a Masters degree in Kinesiology from the University of New Hampshire (1999) and a B.S. in Secondary Education English Teaching from New England College (1994).

Research Interests – Jayson's research interests are both empirical and foundational. His related empirical interests include concept formation 'in the wild' and the relationships between youth identity, activity involvement, and future orientation. He is especially interested in the important role nonformal community settings play in meaningfully engaging youth in learning while also creating developmental pathways that align with cultural values of the community. He typically approaches these topics through Vygotskyan-inspired frameworks such as Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, which acknowledge the essentially social nature of learning and development. His foundations projects include examining how the key 20th century educators John Dewey and Kurt Hahn conceived of 'experience' as a means of connecting students' character formation to different modes of political organization and practical action. His teaching interests include curriculum theory, diversity, social practice theories, linguistic ethnography, qualitative research methods, and historical perspectives on outdoor education.

Work History - Jayson has worked with experiential education at multiple levels in public and private education - as a classroom teacher, trip leader, district-level program administrator, curriculum writer, and state and federal grants manager. He implemented and has helped other teachers implement adventure education, environmental education, place-based education and service learning programs in K-12 schools since 1994. He stays professionally active in whitewater paddling instruction and certification. He also maintains his English teaching certification at the secondary level.

Biographical information - Jayson lives with his wife, Kim, in Durham, NH, and his young daughters Eliza, Carrigan, and Moriah. When Jayson is not driving to the daycare center or sponging milk off the floor, his recreational interests include triathlon racing, whitewater kayaking and canoeing, hiking, and telemark skiing.

Selected publications:

Quay, J. and Seaman, J.  (2013). John Dewey and education outdoors: Making sense of the 'educational situation' through more than a century of progressive reforms. Book forthcoming from Sense Publishers. 

Seaman, J. and Rheingold, A. (in press). Circle talks as situated experiential learning: Contextual frames, identity, and knowledgeability in ‘learning from reflection.’ Article forthcoming in the Journal of Experiential Education

Seaman, J. (2012, December). Learning styles as a basis for paddlesports instruction: A review of the literature and some alternatives to add to the conversation. Journal of Paddlesport Education, 1-8.

Vernon, F. and Seaman, J. (2012). Co-instructing on extended wilderness expeditions: A phenomenological inquiry. Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership, 4(3), 140-156.

Seaman, J. and Nelsen, P. J. (2011). An overburdened term: Dewey’s concept of “experience” as curriculum theory. Education and Culture, 27(1), Article 4. 

Wright, S., Grenier, M., and Seaman, J. (2010). An interdisciplinary view and analysis of constructivism in Kinesiology. QUEST, 62(2), 202-217.

Seaman, J., Beightol, J., Shirilla, P., and Crawford, B. (2010). Contact theory as a framework for experiential activities as diversity education: An exploratory study. Journal of Experiential Education, 32(3), 207-225.

Seaman, J. (2008). Experience, reflect, critique: The end of the ‘learning cycles’ era. Journal of Experiential Education. 31(1), 3-18.

Laurie Gullion
lgullion@unh.edu
603.862.1617

Clinical Assistant Professor
Undergraduate Curriculum Director
Coordinator, Internships

Education  - University of Massachusetts, M.S., 1991

Courses - Outdoor leadership, organization & administration of outdoor education, water-based adventure programming, whitewater canoeing, sea kayaking, winter backpacking, leadership practicum 

Writing Interests - Arctic adventure travel, accident prevention in watersports, women’s wilderness travel.

Laurie Gullion has completed 11 whitewater canoeing expeditions to Arctic and sub-Arctic rivers in the U.S., Canada, Norway, and Finland--paddling almost 10,000 miles in remote regions since 1980. An avid photographer, Laurie has authored seven books on canoeing, kayaking, Nordic and Alpine skiing, including the national text Canoeing and Kayaking Instruction Manual used by the American Canoe Association in its certification programs (see picture right). Her most recent book, Canoeing: A Woman’s Guide, includes the reflections of more than 100 women, some of whom have been paddling for 60 years. She has contributed technique and travel articles to Canoe & Kayak and Paddler magazines.

In her previous position as the coordinator of the Outdoor Leadership Program at Greenfield Community College in western Massachusetts, Laurie trained students to lead adventure programs and trips in canoeing, kayaking, backpacking, and backcountry skiing. She continues to provide instructional and leadership development seminars for a variety of organizations throughout the United States. She is also an instructor trainer for the American Canoe Association and a Nordic examiner for Professional Ski Instructors of America.

Laurie was also the former coordinator of the undergraduate program in Sport Management at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where she taught professional writing and recreation management courses. She received her master’s degree in sport management from University of Massachusetts-Amherst. In her free time, she enjoys wildflower photography, mountain biking, and fitness training.

Tara Flippo
tara.flippo@unh.edu
603.868.1772 x 109

Clinical Assistant Professor

Education – Vermont College, M.A. 2001: Social Justice and Outdoor Experiential Education; Hampshire College, B.A. 1995: Outdoor Experiential Education

Courses – Challenge Course Management

After eight years in a managerial role at Project Adventure, Inc. Tara is excited to join the Outdoor Education faculty and the Browne Center staff at UNH. Tara has a strong background in group facilitation, program design, managing and supervising. Specifically, she has over twelve years of experience managing programs: Manager of the Training and Consulting Department of Project Adventure, Youth and College Programs Director of the NE Division of Project Adventure, Program Director and co-founder of Courage to Heal Adventure Programs (a therapeutic program for women survivors of abuse), and Assistant Director of a K-6 after school program. Through these leadership roles, she has developed broad management abilities including supervising, budgeting, staff training, scheduling, marketing, and office administration.

Tara’s passions include facilitation and training in adventure and social justice. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Justice and Outdoor Experiential Education and has done significant work in cross-cultural/diversity training and youth development. Tara has worked over a thousand program days, developed short and long-term programs/models, and presented at many conferences. Her client time has been split between working with middle and high school students on the challenge course, and “train-the-trainer” work with adults. The training models Tara most frequently has led include : introduction to adventure programming, adventure based counseling, diversity, and program management.

When Tara is not in her director hat, she can usually be found gardening in her small home over the border in Massachusetts or sea kayaking on the coast.

Pam McPhee
pmcphee@brownecenter.com
603.868.1772 Ext. 103

Executive Director of The Browne Center and Clinical Faculty at UNH

Pam is a founder and the Executive Director of The Browne Center and is on the faculty of the Outdoor Education program at UNH. Pam holds a M.S.W. from the University of Connecticut and has had a varied career working for National Outdoor Leadership School, Outward Bound, the Wilderness Education Association, Project Adventure, and as a school social worker, as well as an organizational consultant. Her focus is on helping individuals and groups develop their own deliberate culture through inter and intra-personal skills development. She enjoys co-creating hands on learning environments.

Nate Fitch 
nate.fitch@unh.edu
603.862.2008

Lecturer

Education - 2007 M.S. Kinesiology Outdoor Education - University of New Hampshire; 1998 B.S. Kinesiology Outdoor Education - University of New Hampshire; 1993 B.A. Economics/Mathematics - Union College

Courses - Top Rope Rock Climbing, Lead Rock Climbing, Artificial Climbing Wall Management, High Angle Rescue, Winter Expedition Programming, Top Rope Ice Climbing, Wilderness Navigation, Adventure Activities

Additional Duties - Kinesiology Program Support & Logistics

Research Interests - Climbing Anchor Rigging; Belay Device Performance

Nate is also the Director of the UNH OE Artificial Climbing Wall, a UNH Outdoor Adventures Instructor, a Browne Center Lead Facilitator, and a AMGA Single Pitch Instructor.

Affiliate Faculty

Dan Garvey
Dan is currently President of Prescott College.  Prior to moving to Arizona he was a faculty member here in the OE Program at UNH.  Before joining us, he had a 25-year career as an administrator and educator focused on education reform and improvement. He is a former president and executive director of the Association for Experiential Education, has sailed around the world three times as dean of the Semester at Sea Program through the University of Pittsburgh, served as vice president for the American Youth Foundation, was associate
dean of Student Affairs at the University of New Hampshire.  He has also served on the Americorps Executive Committee and participated in writing their first program grant.

Rick Curtis

Preston B. Cline
Education – Harvard University, M.Ed. 2004
Research interests – The etymology and epistemology of Risk and human interaction with uncertainty

Preston B. Cline is the Founder and President of Adventure Management.  He began his career in the late 1980’s leading 60-day remote wilderness trips with adjudicated youth out of New Jersey.  As the former head of a marine Search and Rescue team, based in the Florida Keys, Preston has been trained as a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician, a NAUI Dive Rescuer and an Ocean Lifeguard Trainer.  He obtained his Bachelors of Environmental Science, with a minor in Professional Youth, in 1994 from Rutgers University.  In 2004 he obtained his Masters of Education from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, where he completed formal research in the etymology and evolution of risk within the Risk and Prevention Program.  It was this research that earned him an invitation to write the definition of risk for the Greenwood Educational Dictionary.  Preston continues to lecture and publish frequently on the subject of Risk and Risk Management, and at the end of 2005 had provided risk management consulting services for over 80 organizations worldwide.