Joseph C. Allen
P.O. Box 601040
203 Clemens Hall
Buffalo, New York 14260-1040
Department 716-645-2245
E-mail: jcallen@buffalo.edu
Photo by Larry Allen, Eight Mile Creek, Alaska
EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY
Outdoor Educational Philosophy - As a life long learner, I feel strongly that outdoor experience and field studies are a primary tool used to garner an environmental ethic and a love of wilderness and natural areas. You can't love wilderness if you don't visit it on foot or by paddle. It is worth vigorously defending! No one returns untouched from the sheer power of the wilderness experience. The strength of a wilderness experience, as with all sound outdoor educational pursuits, lies in the blending of recreation, social interaction, and academic and inspirational learning. Curiosity, wonder, and appreciation become major stimulants for learning. Premiums are placed on working together, getting one another through the journey and on the students' transformation into team player who can eventually bring their newfound empathy back with them into the daily demands of civilization. Personal attributes such as self-reliance, cooperation, self-motivation and perseverance are encouraged. All are virtues necessary to fulfilling the role as a citizen of the world.
Field Trips - I have led many field trips to various parts of the United States including Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Grand Canyon, Arches and Bryce Canyon National Parks and many other areas with wilderness qualities. These field trips were directed in a holistic fashion, allowing students to view the ecosystem in multiple ways. Canoeing, kayaking, rafting, climbing and backpacking excursions have been done with students. On all field trip activities, a field-based multi-disciplinary study accompanied the visit. This, collectively, places the whole trip in the context of science, ethics, politics, and economics. Selected issues such as biodiversity, endangered species protection, wilderness preservation and reclamation, proposed economic development, and adverse environmental practices are integrated into a conservation biology-related study. This "Big Outside" exercise in environmental education: 1) allows for Nature spiritualism, 2) offers an alternative approach, 3) allows for different learning styles, 4) teaches outdoor "humility, ethics and manners," 5) is not pure science but multi-disciplinary, 6) provides a forum for factual as well as emotional debate, 7) offers an alternative site, 8) exposes students to the effects of environmental exploitation, 9) familiarizes students with observational techniques of animal and plant study, and hopefully, 10) creates environmental cognizance, morality and empathy.
INTERESTS
Wilderness & saltwater fly fishing, backpacking, paddle sports, rock climbing and mountaineering, SCUBA diving, private pilot, bluegrass guitar/music, travel to Mexico
EDUCATION
University of Wyoming
North Carolina State University
COLLEGE TEACHING
State University of New York at Buffalo, Amherst, NY
D'Youville College, Buffalo, NY
Niagara County Community College, Sandborn, NY
Yavapai College, Prescott, AZ
University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
Laramie County Community College, Cheyenne, WY
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