Pam Brumbaugh, director of experiential education in Elon’s Student Professional Development Center, has been honored with the National Society for Experiential Education's Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the NSEE and to experiential learning in American higher education.
A longtime Elon University staff member who has mentored hundreds of students throughout her career received a lifetime achievement award this month from the National Society for Experiential Education.
Pam Brumbaugh, director of experiential education in the Student Professional Development Center, was recognized with the John S. Duley Lifetime Achievement Award during the NSEE’s 2015 annual conference in Florida.
Named after an early proponent of experiential learning at Michigan State University, the award honors a professional who has significantly impacted the field of experiential education. Past recipients include leaders in experiential education from New York University, Vanderbilt and Stanford.
“Anyone on our team could have fit this award (description),” Brumbaugh said. “I’m only one of many at Elon working to promote experiential learning.”
The National Society for Experiential Education serves as a national resource center for the development and improvement of experiential education programs. The John S. Duley Achievement Award recognizes one member each year who “over the course of their professional life continued to contribute to the field of experiential education and the work of the NSEE in substantial ways.”
Brumbaugh has worked nearly three decades at Elon, helping to guide the transformation of Elon’s approach to learning, including the creation of the Experiential Learning Requirement of the Elon Core Curriculum.
In her current role, Brumbaugh provides students and alumni with the tools needed to land internships and jobs. She teaches a Transition Strategies course that helps students manage the internship and job application process. She also offers individual counseling sessions for students seeking to narrow their career goals.
“Pam is loved by the students that she works with and she maintains relationships with alumni,” said Tom Brinkley, executive director of the Student Professional Development Center. “She is dedicated to her craft.”
Brumbaugh became involved in the NSEE in 1986 when academia was still skeptical about the merits of experiential learning, she said. She has since served on the board of directors for the NSEE and now teaches seminars as a part of the NSEE’s Experiential Education Academy.
She has travelled around the country to teach college faculty and staff the principles of experiential education. “I love it,” she said. “Everyone I teach is so passionate about engaged learning.
“Its nice to be at Elon because we’re doing things right. It’s a pleasure to be a part of that.”