NSEE awards honor individuals and organizations
that have made significant contributions to NSEE and the field of experiential
education.
Awards were presented during the NSEE annual conference.
PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
Keuka College and the Center for Experiential Learning
Keuka College helped
pioneer experiential learning in higher education. At its founding over
100 years ago, the College emphasized the importance of the integration
of theory and application. In 1942 Keuka established its Field Period
program in which every student, every year, is required to do a field
learning experience.
In 2005, Keuka established their Center for Experiential
Learning, which promotes the development of lifelong learning and career
skills and assists students in transforming their experience into knowledge.
Center staff coordinate all things experiential at the college including
the field periods (aka internships), the Team works! Challenge Experience
Ropes Course, Co-curricular transcripts, community service, student
employment and career services. Keuka’s commitment to XPL is further shown
through the College’s mission statement, which says,in part that “experiential
education provides a cornerstone for academic study, career preparation
and personal growth”. Over the years, the administrative support
and faculty commitment to experiential education has made Keuka College
a model that others seek out.
It is with great pleasure that the NSEE recognizes
the contributions Keuka has made to experiential education, and is proud
to award this year’s “Program
of the Year” award to Keuka College. Accepting the award is Dr.
Ann Marie Guthrie, Assistant Dean of the Center for Experiential Learning.
RESEARCHERS OF THE YEAR AWARD
Janet Eyler and Dwight Giles
This year the award for Researcher of the
Year is being jointly given to Dr. Janet Eyler and Dr. Dwight Giles.
As
individual scholars, Janet and Dwight have an impressive history as authors
of books, articles and academic papers that span decades of work in the
field of experiential education.
Currently Dr. Janet Eyler is a Professor
of Practice of Education and Director of the Undergraduate Studies for
the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations at the Peabody
College of Vanderbilt University. Her research is focused on the impact
of service learning on civic engagement, cognitive development, problem
solving and the transfer of learning.
Dr. Dwight Giles is Professor of
Higher Education and Senior Associate with the New England Resource
Center for Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.
His current research is focused on public scholarship, faculty motivation
and awards, service learning partnerships and the precursors of service
learning thought, development and research.
As a team of researchers
Janet Eyler and Dwight Giles have brought their areas of expertise together
in over 26 shared publications in the field of experiential education.
Their work covers multiple aspects of the impact of service learning
as it pertains to student learning and development, faculty support
and scholarship. Their most notable recent works include Where’s
the Service in Service Learning? and A
Practitioner’s
Guide to Reflection in Service-Learning: Student Voices and Reflections.
Janet
and Dwight were unable to join us today to accept their award, however
Dr. Mary King of Fitchburg State College has graciously agreed to read
their acceptance comments and accept their award in their absence.
COMMUNITY
PARTNER OF THE YEAR AWARD
The Center for Social Concerns at Notre Dame
University
This year’s Experiential Education Community Partner of
the Year award goes to the Center for Social Concerns at Notre Dame
University.
The
Center for Social Concerns is the service and community-based learning
center at Notre Dame. In developing partnerships with local, national
and international faith-based missionary organizations and congregations,
the Center provides educational experiences in social concerns inspired
by gospel values and Catholic tradition. The Center invites students,
faculty, staff and alumni to think critically about today’s complex
social realities and about their realities within them. With increasing
faculty involvement, the Center is expanding the forum where faith-based
social teaching can intersect with all the forms of knowledge found
in the arts, sciences, professions and other areas of scholarship. This
discussion is enhanced through a network of community-based learning
opportunities that connects Notre Dame students with the wider Church.
We are especially
happy to be giving this award to the Center for Social Concerns as it
celebrates 25 years of developing community partnerships and promoting
experiential learning through modeling, research and professional conferences.
Mr. Bill Purcell, Associate Director of the Center will be accepting
the award.
CORPORATE LEADER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Mr. Stefan Kraft and Continental AG
I believe our next awardee may be
the first NSEE award recipient from outside the United States.
Continental
AG, of Hanover Germany, in conjunction with 8 internationally renowned
universities, is the innovation behind the Global Engineering Initiative.
This unique collaboration has studied the influence and importance of
technological expertise and education on the competitiveness of nations,
people and companies. At the heart of this initiative was a comprehensive
study designed to reflect a broad spectrum of topics dealing with all
aspects of engineering and the natural sciences. In furthering their commitment
to experiential learning, Continental AG sponsored the Global Engineering
Internship Program ,with the purpose of offering students the possibility
of an international internship experience. The goal was to prepare students
to work effectively in a global economy and make a real impact in solving
global problems.
Mr. Stefan Kraft, VP of Corporate Human Resources Development
at Continental AG, has taken a lead role in recruiting global universities
and companies to join the Global Engineering Excellence Initiative in
order to further advance globalization in engineering education.
According
to his partners at Georgia Tech University, Stefan’s passion
for experiential education is unmatched as he works to ensure that the
Global Engineering Internship Program provides a transformational work
experience to student interns. Mr. Kraft embodies the essence of Continental
AG’s trailblazing initiative to uncover important facts about the
importance of engineering in the world’s market and the education
of engineers on a worldwide basis.
The NSEE is pleased to recognize Continental
AG and Mr Stefan Kraft as the Experiential Education Corporate Leader
of the Year. Accepting the award on behalf of Mr. Kraft are Mary Fischer
and Ann Blasick from the Georgia Institute of Technology, one of Continental
AG’s partner
schools.
HIGHER EDUCATION LEADER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Dr. Jim La Prad
The NSEE Higher Education Leader of the Year Award recognizes
an individual who has demonstrated innovative uses of experiential learning
in their institution. This year that award goes to Dr. Jim La Prad of
Western Illinois University.
Dr. La Prad has played a leadership role in
the conversation about experiential learning with faculty at Western
Illinois University, including his primary interests in service learning
and moral education which are very evident in his work. He has developed
and instructed courses on experiential methods and practice in the Grand
Canyon which attract K-16 faculty and educators from around the country.
Conference presentations showcase his work in K-16 education, community
outreach and the integration of experiential education into the academic
field. Consulting work and volunteer projects illustrate his dedication
to creating new and provocative connections for educators and partnering
organizations. Jim’s list of professional
affiliations offer a glimpse of the diverse audience he engages in this
conversation.
It has been noted that Jim La Prad is a rare educator who
can balance intellectual work with real life application. His advocacy
for experiential education transcends his impressive body of work because
he is living, teaching and learning according to the principles that
we hold in highest regard. He is recognized as an educator who is committed
to grounding theory and ideas of experiential education in the practical
world because he believes that it’s best for students and schools.
PIONEERS
OF THE YEAR AWARD
David & Alice Kolb
The NSEE is thrilled to recognize the contributions
of David and Alice Kolb to the field of experiential education as we award
them this year’s “Pioneers
of the Year” Award.
[note: David’s question about what we
mean by calling someone a pioneer—I believe it describes someone
whose ideas and work in developing those ideas change the way we think
about our own work or practice –not
just individually, but collectively.] We believe that the Kolbs have done
just that.
Dr. David Kolb’s interests and numerous publications focus
on experiential education, the individual and social change, career development
and executive and professional education. He is the founder and chairman
of Experience Based Learning Systems Inc., and a Professor of Organizational
Behavior in the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve
University in Cleveland Ohio. In the early 1970s, David, and his colleague,
Roger Fry, composed the four elements of “The Experiential Learning
Model”,
of which we are all so familiar. His publication, Toward
an Applied Theory of Experiential Learning is also considered a
seminal work in the field.
David is also renowned in educational circles
for the development of the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, which is designed
to gauge an individual’s
predominant learning preferences. David has been honored for his work
both nationally and internationally, including numerous honorary degrees
at universities in the United States and the UK, and recognition by the
Council for Adult & Experiential Learning. David’s most recent
collaborative work has resulted in publications on conversational learning,
and an experiential approach to organizational behavior.
Dr. Alice
Kolb brings to her role as President of Experience Based Learning Systems
considerable experience working in international and cross-cultural roles
from Brazil to Japan and the U.S. At EBLSI she facilitates innovation
in the research and practice of experiential learning conducted by the
worldwide experiential learning network. As director of research for the
Ohio Consortium on Artistic Learning, a collaborative institutional development
initiative among 3 Ohio higher education art institutions, Alice leads
the initiative to revise the Arts Education Curriculum through a holistic
program of institutional development based on the theory of experiential
learning. As an adjunct professor at Case Western Reserve University,
Alice teaches at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Alice has
also collaborated on numerous publications with David and other colleagues
in the profession, most recently, Playing
to Learn , Learning to Play: A case study of a public learning space.
In their individual and collaborative work, David and Alice have demonstrated
leadership and contributed significant foundational research in the field
of experiential education. Their work forms a core of our understanding
of this type of learning and their research and thinking continues to
expand the field and inform the work of experiential educators and NSEE
members.
NSEE wishes to express its deep appreciation for the continued support
and sponsorship of the Awards Ceremony Luncheon by:
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