COE’s founding director returns to Ithaca

David Moriah ’72, founding director and chair of the COE advisory board, and his wife, Debora ’74, have returned to Ithaca. “One day I woke up and thought, ‘How the hell did I get to be 71 years old?’,” David says. “My next thought was, ‘I've gotta get back to Ithaca and the trails and gorges that nurtured my soul and shaped my life's path’, so here I am. It's a bonus that we're coming upon the 50th anniversary of COE, the finest outdoor education and adventure program in the known universe, so I get to be at the epicenter of it all just in time.”

According to the COE website, the program was founded in 1972 with nine trips. Today, COE offers more than 130 courses taught by 200 student instructors and 11 full-time staff members.