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Playground Expert
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CURRICULUM VITAE PAUL HOGAN
Over the years I have designed and constructed over 450 playgrounds, from Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific to Leningrad in the former Soviet Union and all points in between. I have written two major books and numerous articles on playground development, use and safety issues involving play. Please see the list of my major projects, books, and lectures, below. I hold two patents on Triax 2000, a playground surface tester. This method of testing surfaces has been approved by the ASTM sub-committee on playground surfaces -F 8.83. As an expert witness I have been involved in more than 550 playground- and recreation-related accident cases. A complete list of those cases is available The remainder of my time includes such varied activities as reconstructing a 200-year old stone wall on my property, rehabilitating an equally old stone barn, and writing two new playground books, which are currently still in manuscript form. One is on building cheap playgrounds in third-world countries such as Papua New Guinea and the other is on 100 serious playground accidents and how they could have been avoided. I began
my career after discharge from the 11th Airborne Division in 1952. I
started as a laborer, advanced to carpenter, and by 1956 was a partner
in Hogan & Lynch Construction Co., Inc. In that
capacity I found a niche. We worked on very small but complicated military
contracts. The jobs were too small for the large contractors to bother
with and too demanding for the small ones to attempt. I stopped doing
government work in the mid-sixties and concentrated on playgrounds. RECENT FOR-PAY WORK
RECENT PRO-BONO WORK
CONSULTING CONTRACTS 1991-1992 Consultant to Universal Studios to critique the plans for the Hollywood Theme Park. After construction, I again inspected the Hollywood Park as well as the Orlando Theme Park. 1989 Consultant to the City of Leningrad (Now St. Petersburg) School Authorities to construct a teenage obstacle course-type playground. Performed work at a summer camp that was formerly a woman's political prison 30 km outside the city. 1988 Consultant to the Government of Papua New Guinea. Trained local park personnel to construct economical playgrounds utilizing used materials in Lae, Mount Hagan, and Port Morseby. 1983-1985 Consultant to Hildalgo County (Texas) Head Start Program to inspect 25 playgrounds, upgrade some and construct several more. We had the help of local parents and a US Navy Seabee battalion. 1982-1987 Consultant to North Central West Virginia Head Start Program. Built several playgrounds with student and community participation. 1972-1973 Directed the Playgrounds For Free program to provide play and other recreational activities for the children of victims who lost their homes in Hurricane Agnes. We operated 20 trailer parks and employed approximately 50 recreation leaders under a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community Affairs. 1965-1967 Served as regional director for the Peace Corps in Colombia. Directed 75 Peace Corps Volunteers in a variety of programs including community development, health, cooperatives, handicrafts, agriculture, physical education and elementary support education via television relay from Bogotá to rural schools. 1964 Developed and ran a vocational training program for 100 high school dropouts. This was the first pilot project of the War on Poverty. The project was under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania Human Resources Program under the direction of Dr. Howard Mitchell. 1960-1962
Director of Construction, Neighborhood Renewal Corps, under NRC's president,
former Governor of Pennsylvania Milton Shapp. Worked with community
leaders and youth groups in Philadelphia. Built playgrounds on vacant
and abandoned lots in inner city with the help of local residents and
the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspection's Open Spaces
program. LECTURES During the past thirty-five years I have lectured or given seminars on play, design, and play safety at the following institutions: Burley Technical College, Melbourne, Australia PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
PUBLICATIONS
International Play Journal, England OTHER ACTIVITIES
LANGUAGES Spanish:
3-3 grade by US Foreign Service testing group MILITARY SERVICE
United States Army, 11th Airborne Division, 1950-52 Age 78, excellent health, BA Degree from Goddard College, Plainfield, VT. Three adult children. Divorced. |
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For the past forty years I have been involved in the playground industry
in a variety of ways. In 1958, I began work as a teacher's aid
at my children's nursery school. When I took my wife's
place in the cooperative Charlestown Playschool in SE Pennsylvania, I was assigned to the playground rather than the
classroom. Being a contractor,
I saw the need for a complete overhaul of the decrepit and unsafe playground.
I began working with the preschoolers to bring the play area up to modern
and safe standards. I am still working on that very same playground. In spring of 1998, I replaced a log cabin that I had first built four
decades previously. At all times over the years I have encouraged the
children to work
with me: once using thirty kids to drag a long heavy log to the building
site in the woods, another time to search for flat rocks to form the floor of the
log cabin we built.