Joel Barnes

Background

About Joel Barnes

For nearly four decades, I've been engaged in higher education teaching, research, and administration; from 2017-2020 he served as a high school administrator and teacher. One central theme of my career path has been the seamless integration of environmental studies, sustainability, and adventure-based experiential education in the context of place-based studies. The longest stretch of my career has been at Prescott College as professor and administrator in their undergraduate, masters, and doctorate programs. During his tenure there I served as Director of their Graduate Teaching Assistant Program and the Grand Canyon Semester. After receiving Professor Emeritus status in 2017, I crafted a new chapter in my career as the Director of Sustainability and Experiential Education at Wasatch Academy, a private international boarding high school in central Utah, where I worked closely with the faculty and administration to integrate experiential education and embed academic standards for Education for Sustainability (from the Cloud Institute) into course curricula, program assessments, and Project-Based Learning across campus. Through the newly created Sustainability Council, I established a campus-wide recycling program, secured funding for a "Ban the Bottle" campaign that installed water bottle filling stations across campus, and obtained designation for the Academy as a Utah Green School from the Utah Society for Environmental Education. I also held a leadership role in the Net Zero Energy Initiative that is strategically transforming Wasatch Academy into a Net Zero Energy Campus through innovative building design, renewable energy production, and student-driven project based learning. In 2020 I returned to my Professor Emeritus position at Prescott College to continue my teaching and research. I've picked up the pace with my consulting business, RIPARIA, working with local and regional non-profits to advance holistic watershed health through in ecological restoration and education. Project sites include the Granite Creek Watershed in central Arizona and Grand Canyon’s portion of the Colorado River Watershed. My knowledge and experience with river systems and watersheds of the American West serve as content and context for interdisciplinary teaching, research, and publications in the fields of environmental, experiential, & sustainability education; bioregional & place-based studies; water resource management; river & watershed ecology, conservation & restoration; adventure education & wilderness leadership; whitewater rafting & river guides training.