Rich is a Professor of Communication at Northern Illinois University, currently on sabbatical leave at the University at Albany. Rich has been thoroughly involved in experiential learning since 2006, when he premiered "The Trial of Saavedro," his first hour-long performance of a simulated solution to an immersive, labor-intensive, semester-long scenario describing a problem with far-reaching implications for culture and social justice (subsequent simulations have encompassed widely varying subjects such as labor, authoritarian regimes, visitors from outer space (!), immigration, black liberation, climatic disasters, Middle East military incursions, and the purveying of illegal moonshine). All fourteen of the simulations are cast according to the framework the THERE model in the book proposal he's working on, When They Have Grown Unruly: A Multiplex Approach to Making the Most of Transgression in the Classroom and in Life.