Assistant Provost for Immersion and Experiential Learning Amy Johnson has launched a new Office of Experiential Learning and Immersion Vanderbilt, merging the existing Global Education Office and Office of Immersion Resources. Carolyn Floyd, who most recently led the Office of Immersion Resources, has been appointed senior director of the new Office of Experiential Learning and Immersion Vanderbilt.
The new structure better reflects the components of Immersion Vanderbilt and will function with three pillars: Offices for Experiential Learning, Capstone Experiences and Assessment, and Programming and Funding. The existing Global Education Office will operate alongside other experiential learning units.
“The Office of Experiential Learning and Immersion Vanderbilt is a critical unit that contributes significantly to the undergraduate curriculum,” said Vanessa Beasley, vice provost for academic affairs and dean of residential faculty. “I am grateful to Amy for her leadership and vision in forming this new office, which supports Vanderbilt’s academic and equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives and will ensure every student has access to a high-quality undergraduate experience.”
Immersion Vanderbilt, the university’s only shared undergraduate degree requirement, includes three high-impact practices: experiential learning, mentored relationships and capstone experiences. The first component, experiential learning, is the process of learning through reflection on an active, engaged experience. Experiential learning at Vanderbilt—which may include a community or civic activity, creative expression or design, internship or pre-professional engagement, study abroad, or undergraduate research—may be mentored by a faculty or staff member. Immersion Vanderbilt culminates with capstone experiences, which allow students to integrate and apply their curricular and co-curricular learning to a project.
In her role as senior director, Carolyn Floyd will lead the Experiential Learning and Immersion Vanderbilt team and execute an expanded, strategic vision for the role of experiential learning and high-impact practices at Vanderbilt.
Floyd joined the Vanderbilt community in 2011, first as the registrar of Vanderbilt Law School, then as a research services librarian and lecturer in law and most recently as the director of the Office of Immersion Resources. As an undergraduate, she was a first-generation, out-of-state, non-traditional student, and she was the first in her family to attend law school.
“I am thrilled to welcome Carolyn to her new role as senior director,” Johnson said. “Her dynamic, forward-thinking leadership will be invaluable as we continue to build a comprehensive model for experiential learning and meet the evolving needs of Vanderbilt students.”