About

Educator

Dr. Mary Breunig has spent the last two decades as an outdoor recreation professor and Director of Social Justice and Equity Studies at Canadian universities. She recently started teaching at California State University - Sacramento on the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Miwok, Wintu, Maidu, Nisenan (southern Maidu), and Patwin Native peoples. Her scholarship focuses on social and environmental justice, schoolyard pedagogy, student-directed teaching and learning, and Freiran Praxis. Mary is a NOLS and Outward Bound instructor. She is a climber, cyclist, avid paddler, place-based enthusiast, and urban flaneur.

Community Activist

I engage in outreach work within the communities where I live, including at the SOS foundation of Key West which provides food security, nutrition education, clothing, and food pantry service to those in need and St. Felix Centre, Toronto. I engage in scholarly community activism in the courses I teach and the research I conduct.

Outdoor Instructor & Guide

I am a National Outdoor Leadership School instructor and previously guided trips for Wilderness Inquiry and Outward Bound, as well as a number of other outdoor organizations. I am a generalist who enjoys an array of outdoor activities, including backpacking, sea kayaking, rock and ice climbing, winter camping, mountaineering, and mountain biking. My outings often merge with my scholarship. For example, in 2006 I spent 72 days in South America, mountaineering on the high peaks of Ecuador and Peru, while conducting research on the sense of community and group cohesion amongst high-altitude trekkers.

I hold certifications as a Licensed New York State Backcountry Guide, British Canoe Union, 2 Star Sea Kayaker, Wilderness First Responder, CPR for the Professional Rescuer, Bronze Cross, Leave No Trace Master Educator, and an F Class Driver’s License.

Speaker

Please contact me if you wish to chat with me about a potential speaking engagement. Highlights of my speaking engagements include:

Expert Witness

I have served as an expert witness in court cases involving issues of risk management In outdoor settings.