BIOGRAPHY AND PHOTOS
THE WHAT, WHO, WHEN, WHERE (but I don’t know WHY) ASPECTS OF MY LIFE
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ABSTRACT
Under his nom de plume, writer, educator, defender of the environment, and all creatures great and small, RK created his eclectic career and lifestyle by engaging in numerous interests connected to targeted employment opportunities). Ergo, he fits the profile of a free spirit (and perhaps “vagamundo” is another way to describe his unconventional character). Throughout most of his life, he was primarily employed as an academic educator, outdoors instructor, and backcountry guide. What follows in the longer Curriculum Vitae is a detailed account based on his achievements, credentials, and myriad challenges spanning some fifty years.
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THE MANY MAIN EVENTS (Employment History)
RK’s teeming résumé seems to condense many roles over a number of lifetimes, yet representing a single life span that began in the mid-1940s. Starting with active duty in the military after high school graduation (1964), he joined the Navy (1963––1969). After Communications School (radio, crypto, and teletype), he was assigned to several admiral’s staffs, specializing in the classified métier of Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW). Since 1970, he lived, worked, and traveled due west of the 100th Parallel, mainly hiking and backpacking throughout the Colorado Plateau Province (popularly known as “The Four Corners Region”) Investing many years in academics, he earned the Big 3 degrees with a focus on Eastern and Western Philosophy. For the most part, he eschewed the life of a professor, choosing, instead, employment as an outdoors educator, instructor, and backpacking guide.
Apart from teaching geosciences, natural, and human history mainly relative to the Colorado Plateau, he taught wilderness and survival courses. To mention some of his many other interests, he taught guitar and music theory for some twenty-five years, including myriad performances as a studio and stage musician. Additionally, he composed and recorded two soundtracks for the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Parks; validated as a High School Educational Assistant and Substitute Teacher (mainly, teaching math and science classes); obtained a commercial aviation license (VFR and IFR rated), flying a variety of aircraft; a freelance photographer; GPS surveyor and topographical mapper for the U. S. Forest Service; commercial boatman running rivers coursing through the canyon country carved by the Green and Colorado rivers; a planetarium control room operator and cosmologist; Natural History museum docent; and employed by two police departments, as well as an Arizona sheriff’s department.
Given the praxis and allure of life, RK’s foremost credentials center on teaching via numerous employment opportunities. Since the 1990s, his professional reputation serving in the role of an interpretive outdoors guide was augmented when the Grand Canyon Field Institute hired him as a staff instructor (viz., nearly twenty-five years). He was also employed in the same educational role hired by the Northern Arizona University’s ROAD SCHOLAR PROGRAM, as well as Yavapai College’s Elderhostel Program (respectively, Flagstaff and Prescott).
Additionally, RK owned and operated an eco and cultural Southwest enterprise. Fairly recently, he was the Executive Director of a think tank in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the thrust of which centered on astronautics and aerospace. Along with Joe Maness (a co-founder of their enterprise), he wrote and published math-lab oriented S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) High School classroom projects (www.stemadventuresinouterspace.com).
Since 2014, RK authored and published numerous works (currently, over forty books) and continues revising numerous other manuscripts he plans to publish. In August 2018, temporarily he came out of retirement and was hired as the Program Director for National Park Express (www.nationalparkexpress.com).
Presently, RK, who was often referred to as “Dr. Rich,” given his academic credentials he lives in (Flagstaff, AZ) and is retired. Presented with his mi vida loca extensive and diverse employment track record, he states, "I think it's better to wear out than rust out!”
In view of what the reader discovers in RK’s website, he trusts there is something interesting and engaging for the reader; especially, encouraging and enlightening information insight in light of what his publications have to offer.
RK ALLEMAN (“Dr. Rich”)
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