Dan Campana The International Hobie Class Association is among the top sailboat racing associations in the country and around the world. Campana began sailing sixteen foot, one-design catamarans just out of high school and began racing them in 1991. Having progressed from the C to B, and finally to the A fleet, Campana says he is not likely to win any more trophies. “The intense competition on this level makes racing a rush, and while everyone is competitive on the water”, he says “it’s a very friendly environment off the water. It’s a great community.” Campana participates in at least three major races per year. They take place in San Felipe, Mexico, Huntington Lake in the High Sierras, and Puerto Penasco, Mexico. Although the drives can be long, Campana says they are all great places. He and his family make a camping vacation out of each one. Campana races his Hobie 16 with his wife while his son and daughter race their own Hobie 16. Campana enjoys traveling and has had many opportunities to do so through the University. He served for one year as the director of the Brethren Colleges Abroad program at Philipps University in Marburg, Germany. Because of the good relationships he made while he was there, Campana says he goes back often. He also reads in German to keep the language going. Campana also moved his family to Greece for one semester in order to teach courses at the ULV Athens campus. The small liberal arts college feeling is something Campana enjoys about the University. He calls himself a laid-back teacher whose courses are not too tightly structured. “I hope students feel comfortable”, he says. “I just expect them to be respectful to one another.” Based on the feedback he has received from students, Campana says, “I think I can make difficult material easy to understand.” He says the issues he gets to pursue with his students are what inspire him. Campana worked in the church as a youth pastor, but realized because he liked teaching and research he could do more away from the church. So, after seminary where he earned his master’s degree, Campana went on to Claremont Graduate School to earn a Ph.D. About teaching he says, “It's something that's both a vocation and an avocation.” Campana is highly committed to volunteer work and helping others. Every Tuesday he helps tutor children from kindergarten to sixth grade at the Harambee Center in Pasadena, something he has done for 12 years. Giving back outside his own community, Campana also works with an orphanage in Tijuana. Each year, he and his family make several weekend trips to the orphanage to help with maintenance and construction projects, and play with the kids; once a year they organize a group of families from a local church to join them. It’s a way to get an intercultural experience within three hours”, he says. “It’s a different way of life.” The orphanage gets very little support, Campana says, so it’s a great thing for the families and children from the church to be able to help in the way that they do. “It’s inspiring; the people that work there in the orphanage are there 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Campana says. “To see other people who really live out that commitment is pretty amazing.” RETURN TO FACULTY LISTmailto:campanad@ulv.edu?subject=HELLOHome.htmlshapeimage_1_link_1
Dan Campana Click on the picture to send an e-mail