OHIO announces Spring 2026 Experiential Learning Stewardship Award recipients

The Office of Experiential Learning at Ohio University is pleased to announce the Spring 2026 recipients of the biannual Experiential Learning Stewardship Award.

During this cycle, 11 projects were selected for funding, including six from Regional Higher Education (RHE) campuses and five from the Athens campus, reflecting a continued institutional commitment to expanding high-impact, hands-on learning opportunities for students across the University.

These projects span a wide range of disciplines and experiential modalities—including community engagement, research, internships and global learning — demonstrating the breadth of ways faculty and staff are embedding experiential learning into the curriculum and co-curriculum.

Spring 2026 awardees and projects

• Ronald Vance — OHIO Chillicothe - Medical Volunteer Experience: Undergraduate Nursing
• Kalyn McDonald — Interdisciplinary Hearing Health Project
• Leah Vensil — OHIO Zanesville - OHIO Social Work in Chicago
• Matthew Wanat — OHIO Lancaster - Ohio Sites of Authorship
• Erin Wilson — Historical Athens County Atlas Mapping Initiative
• Jacqueline Yahn — OHIO Eastern - Rural Teacher Corps Internships
• Pamela Kaylor — OHIO Lancaster - The Global Connections Lab
• Anirudh Ruhil — Health Practices in India
• Teri Peasley — OHIO Zanesville - Mock Caldecott Learning Partnership
• Viktoria Viktorova Marinova — Advanced Social Media Client Partnerships
• Josh Christen — Active Seniors

These initiatives provide students with opportunities to apply disciplinary knowledge in real-world contexts, engage with communities, and develop critical professional competencies through structured reflection and practice

Expanding the review process

New this semester, the review process was expanded to include past Stewardship Grant awardees as reviewers. This model is designed to broaden and diversify the perspectives informing funding decisions, drawing on the lived experience of faculty and staff who have successfully designed and implemented experiential learning opportunities. The inclusion of prior awardees strengthens the review process while building a more connected and collaborative experiential learning community across the institution.

Ongoing initiatives that received funding during the fall 2025 award cycle include the following from disciplines across the University, including engineering, music, history and social work.

• The Ambition Project (Nicole Antoinette Smith)
• Rural Justice Lab (Larry Hayman)
• Environmental Rhetorics in Practice (Yogesh Sinha)
• Bobcat Little Libraries (Brenton Goff)

A follow-up feature highlighting the progress and impact of these projects will be released at the start of the Fall 2026 semester. This showcase will also discuss how funded initiatives have evolved and the meaningful ways they are shaping student learningand engagement.

The Experiential Learning Stewardship Award continues to play a vital role in advancing Ohio University’s commitment to integrating experiential learning across all campuses. By supporting innovative faculty and staff projects, the program ensures that students have access to transformative educational experiences that prepare them for success beyond the classroom.

For questions or to learn more, contact the Office of Experiential Learning at experiential.learning@ohio.edu.