(Oct. 21, 2008) The University of Colorado Denver has partnered with the National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE) to become the Rocky Mountain Regional host site for NSEE’s Experiential Education Academy, a series of workshops for faculty and staff that leads to an Experiential Education Certificate.

UC Denver’s first 2 workshops wereheld on October 23 & 24 in Tivoli 640 and included:

* Fundamentals of Theory and Best Practice in Experiential Education

* Service-Learning, Civic Engagement & Experiential Education

NSEE is a national leader in advancing experiential education as a field and a profession.  “The purpose of the Experiential Education Academy (EEA) is to create a common base of knowledge and set of competencies for the field of experiential education,” explains Lisa Gallagher, former Career Center and current director for the Experiential Learning Center. “It allows participants the flexibility to increase their expertise in their own particular interest areas.”

Experiential education includes a variety of activities such as internships, cooperative education, service learning, applied research with faculty members, study abroad,  design projects and community based research.

Under the leadership of former Provost Mark Heckler, an experiential learning signature program was developed and the new Experiential Learning Center was created to expand experiential learning opportunities for UC Denver undergraduates.