Sandy Kohn, director of the University’s Venture Program, is the 2012 recipient of the Michael Stratton Practitioner’s Award from the Association for Experiential Education (AEE).
The AEE is a leading international organization that is dedicated to experiential education, a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content.
The Stratton Award is the highest honor given to a practitioner in the field. According to the AEE, the award “honors an experiential practitioner who has demonstrated consistently high levels of performance in working directly with students or clients. This person's work ‘in the trenches’ demonstrates that an individual practitioner can bring about significant change and impact the lives of students, participants or clients.”
"I was in the audience in 1986, when Michael Stratton received the first Practitioner of the Year award from AEE, and I have been present for many of the succeeding presentations,” said Kohn. “It is a distinguished list of recipients who I have looked up to over the years. I never imagined myself one day standing among them. It is a fulfilling and humbling honor to be recognized by my professional colleagues, and I am thrilled to be this year's honoree."
Kohn, who joined UNC Charlotte in 1984, has served as Venture director for the past 25 years. Prior to that, he worked with the National Outdoor Leadership School; the Boulder Valley Institute; Encounter Four, a program in Pennsylvania for adjudicated youth; the Farm and Wilderness camps in Vermont; and the Colorado Outward Bound School.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from Loretto Heights College in Colorado and a master’s in education from the University of Vermont.
Kohn will be presented the Stratton Practitioner’s Award formally during the AEE’s celebration dinner in November.