The School of Engineering’s Assistant Dean for Design joins a new cohort of 10 Immersion Faculty Fellows who are supported by Undergraduate Education in the Office of the Provost. The fellows represent each of the university’s 10 schools and colleges and will elevate Immersion Vanderbilt, now in its third year as a graduation requirement.
Multifaceted capstone projects have served as a culminating academic and immersion experience for senior engineering students for several years. Assistant Dean Tom Withrow has mentored mechanical engineering senior design teams for 15 years. Withrow, professor of the practice of mechanical engineering, has led the schoolwide design initiative as well as its annual spring Design Day for nine years.
“The intensive capstone learning experience is embedded within the School of Engineering’s educational programs and has served as an example of an ideal real world immersion experience,” Withrow said.
The faculty fellows are instrumental in guiding students on experiential and applied learning journeys by leveraging their expertise, insights and connections on campus, in the community and across the globe. Through directly mentoring students, the fellows help them design rich, immersive learning opportunities that are tailored to individual academic and career paths that support student growth, exploration and success.
The faculty fellows’ areas of expertise include public policy, research on addiction, clinical applied research at VUMC, sports analytics, ethnographic studies, design of surgical robots, music performance and much more.
The Immersion Faculty Fellows also play an essential role in reviewing hundreds of students’ grant proposals for immersion funding. The faculty fellows provide feedback on those proposals, so even if a proposal is not funded, the student learns strategies to improve their grantsmanship, enhance their pitch and practice resilience as they resubmit their applications.
The 10 Immersion Faculty Fellows are also members of the broader Immersion Vanderbilt Faculty Advisory Board.
Contact: brenda.ellis@vanderbilt.edu