Old Folks & Allies Affiliation Group
AEE's Old Folks & Allies Affiliation Group (OFA) was designed to create space for the elders of AEE to connect with each other, share their wisdom with those newer to the field, and contribute to the promotion of experiential education through their connections, projects and initiatives.
This page includes information on:
- OFA's Mission Statement and Structure
- OFA 2008 Annual Meeting Minutes (pdf) from Vancouver, Washington, November
- The OFA Steering Committee Bios
- OFA Elder Roster
- OFA's Proposed Plan of Action
- A Call for Suggestions, Notices & Articles
- How to Join OFA
OFA Mission Statement & Structure
At a planning session on February 27-28, 2006, OFA members adopted the following:
Mission Statement:
The mission of OFA is to provide ways for the wisdom and experience of the elders to be available to the association.
Structure:
OFA is a Professional Affiliation Group of AEE that operates in accordance with published criteria for Professional Affiliation Groups. We are governed by a steering committee that is selected at our annual meeting, which takes place at the Annual International AEE conference.
Leadership:
The OFA Steering Committee
For a full biography and photo of each steering committee member, please follow the hyperlinks.
- JoAnna Allen
JoAnna Allen has taught in the Peace Corps, in an alternative school for special needs youth, and in public school classrooms from kindergarten to college. She has been a member of AEE for over 20 years and in experiential education she found a home for her own philosophy of teaching, learning, and parenting - which led her to pursue her Ph.D. A perennial optimist for world peace, she has hosted numerous exchange teachers from China and Thailand in the last five years to encourage their support for experiential learning. Her recent retirement finds her in fast pursuit of projects kept waiting in the wings until now. - Cliff Knapp
Clifford Knapp has been an experiential educator for most of his 40 years, working with schools and colleges. He has served as a summer camp director and consultant, and university professor. His interests include nature study, reflection/processing skills, indigeous cultures, placed-based education, and enfironmental education. Although her retired from Northern Illinois University six years ago, he remains busy as a workshop leader, program consultant, and author. He has written then books, some of which are classics in the field of outdoor and experiential education. - Tom Smith
Tom Smith discovered his life mantra fifty years ago: "There is a wilderness beyond...and there is a wilderness within." He described himself as a "psychologist/wilderness guide" and facilitated personal growth wilderness adventures to the Boundary Waters of Minnesota for thirty years. He is founder and director of the Raccoon Institute in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He has been active with AEE for thirty years and has been honored with the organization's Kurt Hahn Award. He is the prime mover of the theory and practice of Raccoon Circles. Tom has authored a dozen books for experiential educators. His life has been enriched by 6 children, 10 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren. - Tom Lindblade
Tom Lindblade has been a counselor and experiential educator for over 40 years. For 25 of those years he taught in and coordinated the Field and Experiential Learning Program at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Since retirement in 2000, he continues to teach in an adjunct capacity. He has led experiential adventure field study programs that have taken students to 51 countires and many wilderness areas of North America.
The OFA Elder Roster
- Project #1 Support the development of AEE's research agenda.
- Project #2 Develop a Center/Institute for Experiential Education.
- Project #3 Identify demographic, socioeconomic and educational trends.
- Project #4 Assist with fund development, working toward creating a Foundation.
- Project #5 Develop a directory of our skills, talents and experiences.
- Project #6 Collect and organize archives, identifying lessons learned and best practices.
- Project #7 Continue to develop mentoring/partnering/coaching relationships within AEE.
- Project #8 Provide advice, counsel, mediation and other resources as requested.
- Project #9 Build strategic alliances with other organizations to affect policy.
- Project #10 Develop plans and strategies for AEE to acquire our own physical plant.
Suggestions, Notices & Articles
We welcome your ideas for developing it to serve your needs. Send your suggestions, notices or articles. For the time being, contact Bob MacArthur at bob@birchcorner.com.
How to Join OFA
If you are an AEE member interested in joining the OFA group, email membership@aee.org. Or, log in with your username and password in the top right-hand corner of this page. Then, click on the My Account and then My Profile. Once in your member profile, select OFA under Affiliation Groups.
