School of Education | Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations (ELC) | Rebecca Carver Institute

Rebecca Carver Institute

A diverse group of Rebecca Carver Institute attendees gather around a large table covered with colorful paper cards, engaging in a collaborative activity during a workshop. One participant in the foreground leans forward, observing the discussion closely, while others reach for cards and interact with one another in a bright, modern classroom setting.

Implementing Experiential Education

The Rebecca Carver Institute on Experiential Learning (RCI) is a regularly scheduled learning event intended to provide participants with exposure to and capacity for implementing experiential education.

Through the RCI, the Department of Educational Leadership & Cultural Foundations honors the vision and achievements of its former faculty member Dr. Rebecca Carver who led groundbreaking research into the efficacy and powerful results of experiential education across multiple domains. 

This event is open to teachers, administrators, instructional leaders, higher education faculty, education and community partners, and international educators.

This year, the ELC Department’s Rebecca Carver Institute on Experiential Education conference is a collaboration with the Department of Teacher Education & Higher Education.

Our aim this year is to connect educators across North Carolina and around the world to share experiential education techniques, examine innovative learning approaches, strengthen partnerships, and create meaningful learning experiences.

contact

Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations (ELC) Department
Email: elc@uncg.edu (Please include “Rebecca Carver Institute” in the subject of your email.)
Phone: 336.334.3490
Address: Evenson Building, Room 366
1300 Spring Garden St. Greensboro, NC 27412

student sitting on a bench with a laptop in hand

PE3 Conference Schedule

Rebecca Carver Institute participants gather around a table covered with colorful paper cards, engaging in a hands-on group activity during a workshop. Some people examine cards closely while others discuss and collaborate. A presentation screen in the background reads “Building and enhancing relationships through experiential education.”

Review Previous Event Information

Event Details

The conference schedule and details about presenters is now available.

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KeyNote Speaker Announced

Mallory McDuff, Ph.D. teaches environmental education at Warren Wilson College where she integrates experiential education and community engagement into all of her courses.
She is the author of five books, including Love Your Mother: 50 States, 50 Stories, and 50 Women United for Climate Justice and Our Last Best Act: Planning for the End of Our Lives to Protect the People and Places We Love.
Her essays and op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Narratively, WIRED, and more.

Upcoming Event

Saturday, October 17, 2026
8:30am – 2:00pm EST
Evenson Building

Partnerships. Engagement. Experiential Education (PE3): Empowering Learners

“Global Partnerships. Local Impact.”
(a collaboration between ELC and TEHE departments in the School of Education)

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    The Rebecca Carver Institute of Experiential Education started in 2005, a year after Dr. Rebecca Carver joined the Department of Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations (ELC). She was a hard-working, energetic, and idea-filled professor passionate about experiential learning and youth leadership development.

    Dr. Carver was an admired and influential faculty member who quickly imagined new ways to contribute and expand the department’s offerings. This institute represents Dr. Carver’s commitment to the promises of experiential education. She believed in building a community of individuals dedicated to experiential education and the institute was a pathway to realize that. She believed in three interrelated facets of experience, “agency, belonging, and competence” …she called these the “ABCs” (1997, p.146). The institute uses her work to inspire creative solutions to the challenges in our communities, our places of work, play, and learning.

    After only two years in ELC, Dr. Carver was diagnosed with cancer. Following a valiant nine-month struggle with the disease, she passed away on April 29, 2006. We honor her, her ideas, and her vision through every iteration of the Rebecca Carver Institute.

    In memoriam:
    Dr. Rebecca Carver
    April 29, 2006