Brad Daniel

Brad is Daniel is co-founder and Executive Director of 2nd Nature TREC (Training, Research, Education, Consulting), a consulting agency that partners with existing programs to help them become more effective at what they do. Brad is a Leave No Trace Master Educator, a Certified Outdoor Educator (Wilderness Education Association), an Environmental Educator (State of North Carolina), and an Interpretive Guide (National Association for Interpretation). He has served in various roles in professional organizations including Board Member and President of the Environmental Educators of North Carolina (EENC), Chair of the Leadership Team for the Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance (SEEA), and Coordinator of the Southeast State Representatives for the Association for Experiential Education’s (AEE) Southeast Regional Council (AEESE). He has served as a co-chair of the Association for Experiential Education’s Symposium for Experiential Education Research (SEER).
Brad’s current research interests include:
• Outdoor programming, significant life experiences, and formative life events
• Autonomous student experiences
• The impact of landscapes on inspiration, wonder, and awe
• The impact of outdoor experiences on brain wave activity
Brad has received the Melva Fager Okun Lifetime Achievement in Environmental Education Award from the Environmental Educators of North Carolina (2016), and the Frank Lupton Service Award from the Wilderness Education Association (2017). At Montreat College, where he taught from 1984 to 2017, he was a two-time recipient of the David L. Parks Distinguished Professor Award (1987, 2003) and was named Professor of the Decade (2001-2010). He also received the Dean’s Award (2008) and was named Teacher of the Year four times.
Brad enjoys hiking, canoeing, photography, philanthropy, rescuing dogs, drinking coffee, exploring natural landscapes via any mode of travel, and reflecting on this thing called life.