WWU / Fairhaven College of Interdiscipinary Studies
Ron Riggins
Professor
Ron.Riggins@wwu.edu
Biography
I graduated from La Verne College, in CA, with an undergraduate major in Sociology, and minors in English, History, Physical Education, and Education. For the first year and a-half after graduation, I taught sixth grade, in Covina, CA, and supervised after-school recreation programs.
I returned to school, at Indiana University, and earned a master’s degree in Recreation, with an emphasis in Outdoor Education. While earning my graduate degree, I substituted at every grade level, from kindergarten through high school, in the small community of Spencer, IN.
After graduating with my master’s degree, I became a full-time teacher at Camp Hi-Hill, the residential sixth grade outdoor school operated by Long Beach, CA, schools. I taught environmental education for three years. In the summers, I taught in an outdoor program for “high risk” inner city students.
In 1969, at age 27, I returned to Indiana, to become the director of Bradford Woods, Indiana University’s 2,300-acre outdoor recreation and environmental education center. While there, I worked with staff to develop and operate residential outdoor school programs for two local school districts and worked with five different non-profit organizations operating camps on the Bradford Woods site. I also taught outdoor recreation leadership courses for Indiana University.
After six years, I left this position and returned to school to complete my doctoral degree in Recreation Administration, at IU. I wrote my doctoral thesis on Outward Bound program leadership. As part of the learning process, I participated in courses at both the Hurricane Island and Colorado Outward Bound schools.
In 1977, I came to WWU as an assistant professor in the Recreation Program. Within six months, I was the program’s director, a position I held for two decades. The Recreation Program is nationally accredited and recognized. It is the only cohort learning degree program at WWU and one of only two of its kind in the country.
In 1990, I became Chair of the Department of Physical Education, Health, and Recreation. In 1994, I served a year as Interim Dean of Fairhaven College, then a year as Acting Dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts. From there, I became Chair of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages for two years and then returned to Fairhaven for another year as Acting Dean. While there, I was chosen to be the permanent Dean of Fairhaven, a position I held for five years.
In 2006, in February, after announcing my year-end resignation as dean, I suffered a major stroke and was gone from campus for a year on medical and administrative leave. When I returned to campus, I became the Dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts, where I served a two-year transitional appointment. Last fall quarter, I completed the administrative leave I earned through my previous work. Now I have returned to teach at Fairhaven.
Through the years, I have also served on the boards of non-profit organizations such as the YMCA and Red Cross, and with an organization established to work with pre-adjudicated teen offenders; led environmental education workshops for teachers throughout Indiana; served two four-year terms on the Bellingham Park Board, (one as president of the board); and coached elementary school and middle school soccer.
Interest Areas
Outdoor recreation, environmental education, leadership, management, community.
