Keynote luncheon speakers

Dr. TA Loeffler

Adventurer, Everest climber, and 3M Teaching Scholar, Memorial University

Keynote Address - Inspiration from the Edge: Lessons from the World's Highest Peaks

Nurturing big dreams and climbing big mountains requires leaps of faith, heaps of humor, dashes of discipline, lots of luck, tons of teamwork, and the ability to ride large waves of emotion. Accepting the invitation to dream is the first step followed by intensive planning, training, and outreach. TA Loeffler utilizes this model repeatedly when nurturing her own dreams and the dreams of her students. TA will inspire with a multi-media presentation of the lessons learned from training for, reaching, and climbing the world’s highest mountains including Mount Everest.

Dr. TA Loeffler brings 25 years of expertise leading people through significant life-changing experiences to every facet of her work. As a Professor of Outdoor Recreation at Memorial University of Newfoundland, TA has developed a reputation for excellence in experiential education because her students are more likely to be outside chasing icebergs than sitting in a classroom.

TA is attempting to complete “The Seven Summits,” the highest peak on all seven continents. Using her vast collection of outdoor adventures to create metaphors that provide new ways to see and transform the inevitable obstacles of life, TA’s multi-media presentations inform, educate, inspire, and motivate.

TA has received international and national recognition for her innovative teaching. In 2008, TA was awarded a prestigious 3M National Teaching Fellowship and Minnesota State University named her as a “Distinguished Alumnus”. In 2007, TA received the Karl Rhonke Creativity Award from the Association of Experiential Education. In 2006, TA received the Association of Atlantic Universities Distinguished Teaching Award and The Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport named TA to their Top Twenty Most Influential Women in Canadian Sport List. TA received the Memorial University President's Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2005.