West Virginia Executive Fall 2019 | Page 65

with the communication and media
studies department and the employment
of six interns.
The experiential learning classroom
serves as a more in-depth studying lab-
oratory. Students in communication and
media studies courses participate in a
variety of career-related, project-based
learning activities. For example, for one
assignment faculty tasked students with
considering the counties in the WVU
Parkersburg region and examining the
target audiences by researching jobs,
industries, income, education, school
system enrollment, population, values,
sentiment, social media usage and free
time usage in those counties. But it wasn’t
just about studying counties from afar.
To begin the summer session, the interns
went on a multi-county tour to visit
Calhoun, Jackson, Pleasants, Ritchie,
Roane, Tyler, Wirt and Wood counties.
“I really enjoyed touring different parts
of West Virginia because it gave me dif-
ferent perspectives on the people who
live in those places,” says Loren Hayes,
a marketing intern in her sophomore year
who will use that knowledge to be able
to market effectively to those counties.
WVU Parkersburg President Dr. Chris
Gilmer is committed to building a cul-
ture of experiential learning at WVU
Parkersburg in which his students learn
academic content by putting it into prac-
tice in real-life settings.
“I have advised writing students for
many years to not just tell me but show me
with their words,” says Gilmer. “This is
because I believe fundamentally in learning
by doing, not just by listening or reading
or committing facts to memory. Those
things are important, but implementa-
tion and practice are more important.”
Gilmer plans to expand experiential
learning to more degree programs on
campus.
“This way our students graduate not
only with content knowledge but with
application skills and a portfolio of quality
work to show a potential employer,” he
says. “It is a win for everyone, and I hope
the university community will fully invest
in this model.” 
WVU Parkersburg’s experiential
learning program interns.
Photo by Olivia Reeder.
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