This project explores the ways in which faculty and undergraduate students at a midsize- regional comprehensive university in eastern Colorado have found ways to partner with U.S. parks and protected areas through firsthand, experiential learning and career-based workshops. We use data from ten years of partnerships with Colorado and Arizona parks to illustrate the ways in which our largely first-generation student population has benefited from community-engaged research with the park service and ultimately influenced their future career trajectories beyond graduation. We acknowledge that high, impact experiential learning opportunities may create more liability and risk for faculty and staff at resource-strapped institutions, but that they can also lead to follow-on synergies that benefit both campuses and students in unanticipated ways. We share ten years of qualitative data from program assessment as a tool for other institutions who want to create engaged experiences of their own.
Higher Education | Experiential education, high impact practices, field geography | Curriculum and Instruction
Xavier
Karen Barton is a Professor of Geography, GIS, and Sustainability at the University of Northern Colorado. Her work focuses on community resilience in marine and agricultural communities in the wake of global environmental change. With support from Fulbright and NEH, she published, “Africa’s Joola Shipwreck: Causes and Consequences of a Humanitarian Disaster,” which investigates the second greatest maritime shipwreck in non-wartime history. She is a member of Homeward Bound, a global leadership initiative for women in science. Barton currently serves as a Fellow of the Explorers Club, the Royal Geographical Society, and past President of Fulbright Colorado.
