Stephen Mullaney

Director of School Partnerships and Staff Development

When you’re the lead instructor, trainer and educator for both the staff and the clients of the National Center for Outdoor and Adventure Education (NCOAE), it helps to have a lot of knowledge and experience about the great outdoors. And Stephen Mullaney has plenty of both. Despite being born in New Jersey, Stephen has spent the majority of his life climbing cliffs and mountains, hiking wilderness areas, biking, kayaking and surfing. That’s the experience part.

As for knowledge, Stephen received his undergraduate degree in English from Framingham State University, and an independent, alternative Masters in Education. That’s the knowledge part.

On top of that, he is a certified teacher with a license in EC, ESL, AIG and Classroom Education. And he is a certified Wilderness First Responder (WFR).

Stephen is also a member of the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) and has taught children within the Durham, N.C., public school system. And he has served as an educational consultant for several local and national outdoor schools.

Stephen has worked in education for more than 15 years. His consulting duties have included designing innovative education programs for public, charter and private schools that are creative and successful. He says his philosophy revolves around the development of positive working and learning environments. That thinking helps the companies and organizations for which he works define their mission through group and self-reflection.

This wilderness expert has been associated with NCOAE since January of 2012, training our staff in wilderness skills as well as training our guides about the best instructional practices in the field.