A national environmental education association has presented its top individual award
to Duane Keown, retired UW professor of science education.
He received the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) 2009
Distinguished Outstanding Service to Environmental Education by an Individual Award
at the group's recent annual meeting.
NAAEE is the professional association for environmental education. Members promote
professional excellence in non-formal organizations, K-12 classrooms, universities
(both instructors and students), government agencies, and corporate settings throughout
North America and in over 55 other countries.
Keown is best known for his work with teachers and environmental education workshops
throughout Wyoming While leading the Wyoming Conservation Connection in the Science
and Math Teaching Center, he worked with teachers from more than 30 Wyoming school
districts to write and compile the environmental education activity manuals, Wild
Wonderful Wyoming: Choices for the Future, both for elementary and secondary teachers.
In 1993, Keown pioneered the development of the NAAEE affiliate Wyoming Association
for Environmental Education. He served as president of that organization twice and
has written professional articles in science education and environmental education.
Keown was well known at the UW Lab School for the Science Club 10-day trips he conducted
for seventh, eighth, and ninth grade students to sites of natural phenomena throughout
the West. Trips included, among others, the Grand Canyon, Mt. St. Helens and the Oregon
Coast, Canyonlands National Park, Carlsbad Caverns, and Mesa Verde.
Among his other significant awards are the Wyoming Educator of the Year presented
by the Wyoming Wildlife Federation (1993), Outstanding Service to the Educational
Profession from the UW College of Education (2000), and Wyoming Environmental Educator
of the year from the Wyoming Association for Environmental Education (2001).