<< Back 5/29/02 Outdoor Leadership instructor elected to national post SMN Paul Wolf, the Outdoor Leadership Program Director at Southwestern Community College, has been elected vice chair for the Accreditation Council of the Association for Experiential Education (AEE). The association, which serves more than 600 organizational and 2,000 individual members worldwide, is committed to supporting professional development, theoretical advancement and evaluation of experiential education. The accreditation council is charged with publishing and maintaining industry standards in adventure activities used in experiential education programs. Prior to starting the Outdoor Leadership degree program at SCC in 2000, Wolf coordinated the safety reviews of experiential education programs for Alpine Towers International, a major player in the challenge course industry. His region covered 13 Northeast states and Germany. Having done additional work in Chile and Jamaica, Paul came to appreciate the multiple approaches taken in education. Wolf’s involvement with the Association for Experiential Education’s accreditation program began as a reviewer. After leading a number of reviews, he was appointed as Accreditation Program Coordinator of the Southeast region. In this role, he coordinated the review teams in 10 states for more than two years. Paul was nominated, and then elected to the council in 1999. Last fall during the international conference, he was re-elected to a second three-year term. In his role on the council Paul serves on the standards committee, which publishes the “Manual of Accreditation Standards for Adventure Programs.” This document has become the best-selling publication of the association. Most adventure programs use this manual as a guide when planning their program delivery. Chances are, if you have ever participated in an adventure education activity, you have probably been affected by Wolf’s work in documenting the industry standards used to provide a quality experience. When AEE accredits an adventure education program, it attests that the program has an educational mission, clearly defined and appropriate objective. AEE accreditation also maintains conditions under which those objectives may be achieved. An accreditation certificate informs potential participants and others that programs are operating in a manner that is acceptable to the industry. For more information about the AEE, visit www.aee.org on the Internet.