UofW Core Team

Director, Programs and Mentoring
Chris Crotty, M.A.

Chris is an ecopsychologist, educator, and mentor within institutional settings and private practice. Active in rites of passage work, he trained as a Vision Quest guide and Council facilitator with the School of Lost Borders, and has been devoted to the practice of meditation for the past ten years, studying in the Shambhala and Vipassana traditions. Chris has shared his blend of contemplative practice and earth-based teachings with public and private schools, colleges, non-profits, and Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. Chris holds an M.A. in Ecopsychology and Sustainable Leadership with a concentration in Buddhist Studies.

Educational & Institutional Partnership Director
Dr Larry Buell

Larry Buell is an environmental educator who specializes in "Sense of Place" interpretations of the natural and cultural environments and creating Earth-based living and learning communities. Larry received his master's in Outdoor Education from Penn State and his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts. He is founder and former director of the Outdoor Leadership Program and the Earth Education Human Ecology curriculum at Greenfield Community College where he is Professor Emeritus of Human Ecology. In 1992 he founded the Earthlands intentional community and environmental center. Larry is the visionary behind University of the Wild and is the author of numerous books and articles, including, The Outdoor Leadership Competency Manual; The 24-Hour Experience: An Outdoor Adventure Program; a text book on Human Ecology: Roots of our Worldview and Foundations for a Sustainable Future; and Return to the Meadow:Poetry, Prose, and Images of Place.

Program Coordinator
Patrick Draper, B.Comm

Patrick is the Program Coordinator of University of the Wild where he also guides programs that blend personal transformation with cultural sustainability. His guiding background includes training with Animas Valley Institute and The Institute for Natural Learning as well as study in body-based psychotherapy. He has taught adults, teenagers and children in both urban and wilderness settings, working with participants in public schools, colleges, non-profits and private organizations, including Greenfield Community College, Vermont Wilderness School and the Katimavik youth volunteer program.

Registrar & Admin Services
Chris Stengel
Bio to come

Senior Organizational Advisor
Vivienne Simon
Vivienne is a life-time activist, working in the interface between personal and social change. She has worked in international environmental and human rights for over 30 years, in areas such as rainforest protection, famine relief, peace organizing, anti-nuclear campaigning, political consulting and developing the field of eco-psychology. An attorney and certified coach, she has held positions with organizations as diverse as Greenpeace, Harvard University and Cultural Survival.