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View from the Hill
Experiential Education at UNH:
When the World is Your Classroom
If a student wants a broad education but also wants a job waiting after college, which is better: Book learning or experience?
The answer: Both.
The University of New Haven is taking the classroom out of the building, and the students into the field. Understanding full well what the New England philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson was thinking when he said, “Skill to do, comes of doing,”
UNH students are availing themselves of internships, research opportunities, and community service that bring them into contact with scientists, businesspeople, professional engineers, authors and more. Experience combined with education—aka experiential education—is moving UNH students into the future equipped to succeed. Experiential education also figures prominently in the University’s Strategic Direction, a master plan for the future.
“Classroom learning combined with internships, research opportunities and many of the other hands-on experiences that UNH offers its students create highly employable graduates,” points out President Steven H. Kaplan.
Melody Johnson '09
Melody Johnson '09, of Northbridge, Massachusetts, spent the summer researching fire-protective fabrics at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland, part of the federal Department of Commerce. The essence of her work could help the world sleep better. Coatings on fabrics that create a barrier between the human body and flammable foams in mattresses and cushions degrade over time, rendering them useless. Johnson worked with solvents to produce a molecular fabric blend that would last. "Working in a research environment has taught me to be open-minded, experimental and creative," she says. "I have learned to love research not for its possible outcomes, but for its endless possibilities."
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