Outdoor Education Profiles
Alumni and Student Profiles
Paul Shirilla, Doctoral Candidate
I grew up in northern Michigan and attended Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio for my undergraduate studies. After spending two years teaching English in Japan, I discovered the field of outdoor education and enrolled in an outdoor skills course with Yamnuska Mountain School in Canmore, Alberta. Following this 3-month course, I spent one year leading youth programs at various outdoor education centers in southeast Queensland, Australia. I then enrolled in the Master of Arts program in Outdoor Education at the University of Minnesota and graduated in 2003. After working two years as the Adventure Based Program Coordinator at Epping Middle School in Epping, New Hampshire, I enrolled full-time in the PhD program in Outdoor Education at the University of New Hampshire.
My area of professional experience and interest is the use of experiential education and adventure based programs in public schools. I chose the PhD program at UNH because of its strong ties with the Education department as well as its emphasis on developing solid research skills. The coursework of the PhD program provides me with the opportunity to develop in both of these important areas. In addition to these opportunities in the classroom, I have been able to teach undergraduate classes in the Kinesiology department and be directly involved with several research projects with my advisor, Dr. Michael Gass. I believe that this combination of rigorous coursework, undergraduate teaching, and applicable research provides me with an excellent scholarly foundation for my career. My anticipated graduation date is May, 2009.
Brooke Moran, Ph.D., '07
Brooke is passionate about employing experiential education both in the
classroom and in the backcountry. She is an Assistant Professor of Outdoor
Leadership at Western State College of Colorado and enjoys teaching field
courses, as well as leadership, experiential education, and environmental
education courses in the classroom. Prior to her current post, she worked
for NOLS, Outward Bound, and was an adjunct in UNH¹s OE Program for a year,
among other jobs. She started her academic career at UNH, attended Harvard
University for her Master¹s degree, and then returned to UNH to study
Experiential Education for her Ph.D. Her primary research interest is
raising teacher efficacy through experiential/adventure education
professional development initiatives.