Outdoor Education Faculty
Michael Gass
Department Chair, 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
Assistant 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.
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 social support and community development, specifically focusing on how students transition from high school to college. Brent teaches Philosophy and Methods of OE, Adventure Travel, and a graduate course on the Psychological Aspects of Adventure Education.
Brent received his Ph.D. from UNH in 2005, returning after a successful undergraduate experience in the OE Program in the 1980s. Since leaving UNH in ‘89, Brent has worked with therapeutic adventure programs, been an assistant camp director, a program director for an adventure travel company, and developed an outdoor leadership program at New England College in Henniker, NH. Most recently Brent spent six years as the Director of the First-Year Outdoor Program at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA.
Brent is on the Northeast Advisory Board for the Association of Experiential Education and has worked extensively with program accreditation. He is a ski and bike freak, having put in over 10,000 touring miles on his bike and many years of skiing including instructing, patrolling, and racing.
Jayson Seaman
Assistant Professor
Education – Jayson received his Ph.D. in Education, with a concentration in
Experiential Education, from the University of New Hampshire in 2006. He
holds a Master's 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 current research focuses on the ways urban
and suburban youth learn about diversity through their joint participation
in carefully planned adventure and service activities. He is also
interested in the links between motivation, cognition, and social
interaction as students participate together in standards-based classroom
projects with strong experiential components. Broadly speaking, his
interests include: collaborative learning in formal and nonformal
educational settings, qualitative and mixed research methods,
Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, and social development, especially
among racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse youth.
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 has implemented and has helped other teachers implement adventure education, environmental education, place-based education and service learning programs in K-12 schools for over 10 years. He stays professionally active in challenge course facilitation and training, and whitewater paddling. He also maintains his English teaching certification at the secondary level.
Jayson lives with his wife, Kim, in Durham, NH. His recreational interests include whitewater kayaking and canoeing, hiking, ice climbing, and telemark skiing.
Laurie Gullion
Clinical Assistant Professor
Coordinator, Outdoor Education option
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.
Ken Hult, Clinical Assistant Professor
khult@unh.edu
Education – University of New Hampshire, M.S.
Courses – Emergency Medical Care: Principles & Practice (EMT), Wilderness Emergency Medical Care (WEMT), First Responder.
Kenneth Hult earned his MS from the University of New Hampshire in Zoology. While employed as the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Coordinator for the City of Dover, NH, Ken received an AS in EMS with Paramedic Certification from NH Technical Institute. Since coming to UNH in 1983, Ken has developed a comprehensive program in EMS education. Certification courses in CPR, Emergency First Responder and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-Basic and Intermediate) are required courses for many UNH students including those in the Outdoor Education Option. In 1989 Ken became a Lead Instructor for the National Association of Search and Rescue (NASAR) and since then has been providing Outdoor Education students training in Wilderness Emergency Medical Care (WEMT).
Tara Flippo
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
Clinical Assistant Professor
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
Adjunct Field Instructors
Amy Dupuis
Logan W.
Bruce Lindwall
Josina Fluehr-Lobban