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Adventure Academy Professors

At the QAS Adventure Academy, we believe that bold journeys require bold mentors—and ours are the best in the field (and forests, and mountains, and rivers). Our ever-growing staff of expert professors includes elite mountaineers, seasoned survivalists, polyglot linguists, deep-jungle navigators, learned historians, and accomplished archaeologists who don’t just teach adventure—they live it. That’s why our faculty roster is impressively large: each professor leads just a handful of courses each year because their lives are committed to gaining more real world experience to offer our students. Each member of our faculty brings a wealth of hard-earned wisdom and a passion for guiding the next generation of explorers. Meet the trailblazers who make the QAS Adventure Academy unlike any school on Earth.

Departments

At the QAS Adventure Academy, we believe that true exploration requires more than just grit—it demands a complete education in the art and science of adventure. That’s why our curriculum is divided into six specialized academy discipline departments, each designed to cover a core pillar of the adventurous life. From mastering the physical demands of expedition travel, to understanding the psychological resilience needed in extreme environments, to studying the world’s boldest explorers through history, our departments work together to forge well-rounded adventurers. Whether you’re climbing cliffs, decoding ancient maps, or preparing your mind for the unknown, our six academies ensure no part of the journey is left uncharted.


Department of Linguistics

Our Department of Linguistics is anything but ordinary—here, language is an expedition. We don’t just encourage our students to be polyglots, we dive into ancient scripts, decipher lost symbols, and explore the spoken and unspoken ways humans communicate across wild landscapes and distant cultures. From jungle dialects whispered by remote tribes to sacred chants echoing through Himalayan temples, our students study language as a living, breathing force of nature. With a focus on field linguistics, symbolic systems, oral traditions, and the art of survival communication, here we train students to decode the world—not just with words, but with meaning, motion, and mystery.

Dr. Celia Ravenworth – The Americas

Specialty: Petroglyph interpretation and Indigenous semiotics. Dr. Ravenworth deciphers the art-languages of the Ancestral Puebloans, the codices of the Maya, and Incan quipus. Her flagship course, “Painted Stories & Sacred Signs: Visual Language of the Americas,” takes students from canyon walls to temple walls, exploring how ancient cultures used symbols to encode spiritual, political, and navigational meaning. She speaks fluent Nahuatl and believes pictographs are “conversations with the land.”

Professor Luka Marius Valen – Europe

Specialty: Script Evolution & Iconography
An art linguist with a passion for medieval manuscripts, ancient alphabets, and secret symbols, Professor Valen wrote “From Runes to Relics: The Art-Language of Europe’s Past.” He explores the semiotics of Roman graffiti, Gothic cathedral programs, and the hidden geometries in Celtic knotwork. Fluent in Latin, Greek, and Old Norse.

Dr. Samira Osei-Ali – Africa & The Middle East

Specialty: Sacred Scripts & Symbol Systems
Dr. Osei-Ali bridges ancient African symbology and Semitic script development, specializing in Adinkra symbols, Arabic calligraphy, and Nubian visual storytelling. Her popular course, “Inks of Memory: Language, Power & Art Across Deserts and Kingdoms,” decodes tomb paintings, textiles, and scrollwork with cultural and political insight. She can sketch hieroglyphs from memory, reads five alphabets, and insists that the human soul has always spoken in symbols first.

Professor Haruto Saito – Asia

Specialty: Visual Semiotics & Calligraphic Language
Professor Saito is a leading authority on East and South Asian visual linguistics—especially Chinese oracle bone script, Japanese kanji evolution, Tibetan thangka symbolism, and Sanskrit mantra art. His course, “Ink & Intention: Visual Language from Scroll to Shrine,” includes brushwork workshops, field decoding of temple inscriptions, and deep dives into sacred diagrammatic grammar. He believes the most powerful language is one that can be both seen and felt.

Dr. Haunani Vai

Professor of Oceanic Linguistic Arts & Oral Design — Australia & Oceania
Born in Samoa and raised in Hawaii, Dr. Vai studies the intersection of language, ritual, and design in body art, bark cloth, and navigational charts. Her class, “Spoken Threads: The Visual Grammar of Oceanic Cultures,” explores Aboriginal Dreamtime symbolism, tattoo as linguistic identity, and the mnemonic function of Pacific fiber arts. Her lectures often feature chants, handwoven maps, and guest navigators who learned their craft before they could write their name.

Department of Expeditionary Fitness & Survival Sciences

This is where grit meets grit. This is the heart-pounding, mud-splattered core of our academy—where students trade classrooms for cliffs, gyms for glaciers, and whiteboards for wild terrain. Our expert instructors push students beyond comfort zones with hands-on courses in wilderness survival, expedition fitness, self-reliance, and endurance under pressure. Whether you’re learning to build a shelter in a downpour, navigating treacherous landscapes by foot, or hauling gear up a mountainside before breakfast, this department builds the kind of strength—mental and physical—that only the wild can forge.

Professor Flint Granger – Survivalism in the Outdoors

Specialty: Survival mastery over the harshest environments on Earth.
Flint, as he insists he’s referred to as only, is known for eating bugs on purpose and for science and is a decorated survivalist who once spent 100 days alone in the Yukon with nothing but a tarp, a knife, and a stubborn attitude. He teaches courses like “Fire by Friction & Fury” and “Thriving in Hostile Terrain”, where students learn shelter-building, water sourcing, and emergency mental strategies. Rumor has it he hasn’t slept indoors since 2007.

Dr. Yui Takoda – Wildlife Studies & Human-Animal Interaction

Specialty: Predatory Mammals and Contemporary Tracking Practices
Raised in a conservationist family and trained in field biology, Dr. Takoda bridges the gap between academic knowledge and lived experience in the wild. She’s tracked wolves in Montana, studied jaguars in the Amazon, and lectured on bear psychology in Alaska. Her flagship course, “Predator Logic: Understanding Animals Before They Understand You,” teaches adventurers how to read tracks, interpret behavior, and coexist safely with wildlife.

Professor Rance Storm – Physical Strength & Agility

Specialty: Endurance Training
A former elite obstacle course racer and wilderness athlete, Professor Storm combines primal conditioning with tactical adventure fitness. His signature class, “The 48-Hour Body Gauntlet,” pushes students through strength circuits, mobility training, and terrain-based endurance. His motto: “If you can’t lift it, climb it, or carry it, you don’t own it.” He’s also been known to bench press a canoe.

Professor Nico Reyes – Self Defense & Personal Securiety

Specialty: Brazilian Jiu Jitzu & The Science of De-escalation
With a background in Krav Maga, wilderness combat tactics, Brazilian Jiu Jitzu and international security, Professor Reyes brings a no-nonsense approach to staying safe in unpredictable places. His classes—“Combat in Close Quarters” and “Improvise, Adapt, Protect”—cover everything from animal defense techniques to urban escape scenarios. Quiet and intense, he can disarm a threat using only a stick and a backpack strap.

Prof. Dex Trammell – Applied Risk and Engineering Challenges

Specialty: Risk Management in the field.
Professor Jack “Steel” Morgan is a former Navy SEAL and has years of high-stakes missions under his belt and a mind built for strategy. He teaches students how to assess danger, engineer under pressure, and think fast when one’s survival is on the line. His signature assignment involves having students design a self-rescue device using only salvaged materials. Whether he’s designing rope systems on a cliff face or running risk simulations in the wilderness, Professor Morgan brings battlefield precision and bold confidence to every class—and expects nothing less from his students.

Department of Adventure Psychology & Cognitive Navigation

The Department of Adventure Psychology & Cognitive Navigation explores the mental terrain that lies beyond the map. Here, students dive into the fascinating inner workings of courage, fear, resilience, risk-taking, and transformation—because every great adventure starts in the mind. Whether you’re studying the adrenaline-fueled decision-making of high-stakes expeditions, the psychology of fear in the face of the unknown, or the life-changing effects of overcoming extreme challenges, this department trains explorers to understand not just the journey around them, but the one happening within. It’s where science meets soul, and every lecture feels like a step deeper into your own untapped potential.

Dr. Leana Voss – Psychology Of Adventure

Specialty: Decoding the ambitious minds of adventurers.
Dr. Lena Voss is the fearless mind behind the Psychology of Adventure program at Adventure University. Equal parts scientist and seeker, she’s spent her career studying what drives people to face danger, embrace discomfort, and chase the unknown. Dr. Voss has interviewed thrill-seekers, explorers, and survivalists to uncover how fear, flow, and resilience shape the adventurous spirit. Her classes blend cutting-edge psychological research with real-world stories that challenge students to explore not just the world—but themselves

Dr. Hernando Perez – The Science of Personal Growth

Specialty: Overcoming personal fears.
Dr. Perez is a leading expert in personal growth and transformation, dedicated to empowering students to unlock their full potential. He guides individuals through proven frameworks and hands-on exercises designed to foster resilience, adaptability, and a fearless embrace of change. His courses delve into the psychology of courage, effective goal setting, and cultivating a mindset that thrives on challenge—essential skills for any adventure, whether in the wilderness or in life.

Department of World History

At Adventure University, the Department of World History isn’t about memorizing dates in a dusty lecture hall—it’s about digging up the past with your boots on and your curiosity blazing. Our students explore the rise and fall of civilizations through the lens of exploration, conquest, trade, and survival. From ancient empires and lost cities to legendary explorers and untold resistance movements, this department brings history to life through immersive field study, archaeological expeditions, and epic storytelling. Whether you’re tracing Viking routes across Europe or uncovering jungle temples in Central America, our world history program is designed for those who believe the past is best understood with a pack on your back and a shovel in hand.

Professor Santiago “Santi” Calderón – The Americas

Specialty: Expedition history.
Specializing in pre-Columbian civilizations and post-contact exploration, Professor Calderón is known for trekking through the Andes, navigating Mayan ruins with hand-drawn maps, and arguing passionately about the brilliance of Indigenous trade routes. His courses—like “Lost Cities, Living Legacies” and “Conquistadors & Counterstories”—blend academic depth with jungle tales, river-raft archaeology, and a deep respect for Native ingenuity.

Professor Benedict “Benny” Thorne – Europe

Specialty: Heraldry and Royal European Successions
A former castle restoration volunteer turned academic rogue, Professor Thorne specializes in medieval campaigns, Viking exploration, and the age of discovery. He teaches “Empires, Plagues & Pilgrimages” while wielding a replica broadsword and quoting Cicero mid-lecture. When not in the classroom, he’s leading student reenactments of ancient battles or tracing Roman roads across the Alps—on foot.

Dr. Naima El-Rashid – Africa & The Middle East

Specialty: Preservation of ancient documents and literature.
With a background in desert anthropology and trans-Saharan trade routes, Dr. El-Rashid explores Africa’s dynasties, Islamic expansion, and untold stories of resistance and revolution. Her fieldwork has taken her from the salt caravans of Mali to Nabatean ruins in Jordan. Her course “Sands of Power: Adventure and Empire in African & Middle Eastern History” is a campus favorite. She’s equal parts scholar and storyteller, with a voice that turns history into epic cinema.

Professor Batbayar Temujin – Asia

Specialty: Asia wars and battle heroes.
A calm and deeply respected scholar of Silk Road networks, samurai-era Japan, and imperial China, Professor Mori blends cultural philosophy with tales of vast overland journeys. His signature course, “Dragons, Dynasties & the Great Game,” covers everything from Mongol invasions to Himalayan spiritual pilgrimages. He’s been known to take students on silent sunrise hikes before lectures and has a sword above his desk that “has a very long story.”

Dr. Cassia Wren – Australia & Oceana

Specialty: Oceanic exploration and trade.
Equal parts historian and open-water adventurer, Dr. Wren studies Polynesian wayfinding, Aboriginal songs, and the colonial history of the South Pacific. Her class, “Voyages of Stars and Shadows,” includes a sailing expedition to study ancient navigation firsthand. She’s been stung by a jellyfish, bitten by a parrot, and published three papers on the cultural significance of outrigger canoes. Her lectures are half scholarly brilliance, half seafaring storytime.

Department of Culture & Geography Studies

At the Adventure University, the Department of Culture and Geography Studies is where maps come alive and cultures are explored not from afar, but up close and in motion. This department takes students across deserts, rainforests, highlands, and remote islands to understand how people live, move, adapt, and thrive in every corner of the world. Through immersive fieldwork, hands-on cultural exchanges, and real-world exploration, students study the powerful relationship between landscapes and the traditions they shape. Whether you’re navigating the rituals of nomadic tribes, tracing the roots of sacred festivals, or decoding the human story etched into terrain, this department is your passport to a world of lived experience and endless discovery.

Professor Maya Redhawk – The Americas

Specialty: Cultural ecology in the Americas.
With Cherokee ancestry and a background in environmental anthropology, Professor Redhawk is an expert in the intersection of Indigenous culture and land stewardship across North, Central, and South America. She teaches “Sacred Landscapes: Indigenous Culture & Geography of the Americas” and leads immersive treks through everything from the Sonoran Desert to the Andes. She believes maps should be sung, not just read.

Dr. Eliza Ventner – Europe

Specialty: of Ethnogeography & Folk Traditions
Part cultural geographer, part folklorist, Professor Ventner specializes in the cultural layers of Europe’s highlands, rivers, and rural regions. She teaches “Borders, Ballads & Bonfires: Europe’s Cultural Geography” and leads field trips through Celtic stone circles, Alpine villages, and Slavic steppe festivals.

Dr. Kwame Bakari – Africa & The Middle East

Specialty: Nomadic Cultures and Desert Geography
A Tanzanian-born geographer and field anthropologist, Dr. Bakari is known for his in-depth work with Tuareg, Berber, and Maasai communities. His course “Caravans & Kinship: Human Geography of the Desert World” covers trade, tradition, and terrain from the Sahara to the Horn of Africa. He’s spent years in tents, knows the Nile like an old friend, and can navigate by dune shadows alone.

Professor Meilin Zhou – Asia

Specialty: Sacred landscapes and ancient maps
From the Tibetan Plateau to the rice terraces of Vietnam, Professor Zhou studies how terrain shapes tradition and belief across Asia. Her courses—like “Pilgrimage and Place: Cultural Geography of Asia”—blend cartography, myth, and lived heritage.

Dr. Kirk Mansfield – Australia & Oceana

Specialty: Progressive studies on ocean navigation and charting.
Dr. Mansfield studies the relationship between people, sea, and sacred space across the islands of Oceania and coastal Australia. His signature class, “Tides of Identity: Navigating Island Cultures,” includes outrigger canoeing and exploring the oral geography of coral atolls. He’s often barefoot, always smiling, and can tell you where you are based solely on wind direction and wave rhythm.

Department of Applied Art History & Archaeology

At Adventure University, the Department of Art History and Archaeology is where the past reveals itself through stone, symbol, and story. Here, students don’t just study ancient artifacts—they uncover them. From the sands of forgotten temples to the depths of jungle-covered ruins, this department trains modern explorers to read the visual language of lost civilizations and interpret the art that shaped human history. Whether you’re brushing off centuries of dust in an excavation trench or decoding the meaning behind sacred carvings and cave paintings, you’ll gain hands-on experience in the field and a deep understanding of humanity’s most adventurous expressions. This is history you can touch—and stories that refuse to stay buried.

Professor Robert Stonewalker – The Americas

Specialty: Indigenous Art & Sacred Sites
A world-traveling archaeologist with Lakota ancestry, Professor Stonewalker is renowned for his fieldwork on petroglyphs, cliff dwellings, and ceremonial earthworks across North and South America. His signature course, “Icons of Earth and Sky: Art & Architecture of Ancient Americas,” includes site studies of Chaco Canyon, Teotihuacán, and Machu Picchu. He’s known for always carrying his handmade sketch journal and believes ancient art speaks if you know how to listen.

Dr. Julian DeWitt – Europe

Specialty: Classical & Medieval Archaeology
A trench-digging classicist with a fondness for Roman mosaics and Viking grave goods, Professor DeWitt splits his time between lecture halls and muddy excavation sites. His course, “Ruins, Relics & Renaissance: Europe Unearthed,” includes summer digs in Italy, Greece, and Scandinavia. He wears fingerless gloves year-round, claims to own a cursed fibula pin, and insists the Parthenon is “less perfect in person—but more human.”

Dr. Zahra Al-Khalil – Africa & The Middle East

Specialty: Art of royalty and historic kingdoms.
A multilingual archaeologist with a passion for ancient scripts and desert mysticism, Dr. Al-Khalil focuses on Egyptian tomb art, Nubian kingdoms, and the lost cities of the Arabian Peninsula. Her popular course, “Sands of Splendor: Art & Archaeology of North Africa & the Middle East,” includes digs in Luxor and Petra. She’s been known to deliver lectures inside Bedouin tents and once decoded a Phoenician inscription mid-field seminar.

Professor Marathi Joshi – Asia

Specialty: Fieldwork throughout the Indus Valley.
Elegant, enigmatic, and obsessed with sacred geometry, Professor Joshi teaches “Dragons, Devas & Dynasties: Art of Asia’s Great Civilizations.” His expertise spans Japanese Buddhist sculpture, Khmer temple design, and Indus Valley excavation techniques. He has led student expeditions to Angkor Wat, the caves of Dunhuang, and forgotten jungle temples in Sri Lanka. He often opens class with incense and a riddle.

Dr. Oliana Palakiko – Australia & Oceana

Specialty: Ritual art and practices.
Born in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Dr. Palakiko specializes in Aboriginal rock art, Pacific ceremonial objects, and Polynesian tattoo as storytelling. She teaches “Ink, Stone & Story: Material Culture of Oceania” and organizes student expeditions to Uluru, Fiji, and traditional Marae. She often lectures barefoot, inlaid shell earrings catching the light as she speaks of mana, myth, and migration.