CADC Well Represented in the 2016 ePortfolio Competition

Rachel Hamrick, a senior in the Environmental Design program from Eufaula, Alabama, was one of four recipients of the Outstanding ePortfolio Award for 2016. Hamrick received the honor during the third annual ePortfolio Awards Luncheon hosted by Provost Timothy Boosinger on May 3. She was nominated by Magdalena Garmaz, Environmental Design Program Chair and Ann & Batey Gresham Professor of Architecture.

The ePortfolio Project is a campus-wide initiative that offers Auburn students the opportunity to create personal websites that communicate and showcase skills, experiences, and learning. Students can use their sites to contextualize the diverse portfolio of work they have created at Auburn for different audiences, such as potential employers and graduate schools. As Provost Boosinger explains, “ePortfolios offer our students a unique opportunity to connect their learning experiences and present their work in a format that is creative, diverse, accessible, and, of course, professional.”

Hamrick’s ePortfolio emphasizes that her ultimate goal is to produce designs that are equally invested in promoting human activity within the environment and a healthy natural landscape. She states, “I plan to work diligently to promote the seamless coexistence of nature and man. In other words, I hope to obliterate the dated, imaginary system of boundaries we have categorized ourselves into.” She entered the Master of Landscape Architecture program in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture in summer 2016.

Finalists were nominated by faculty from disciplines across the university, and their ePortfolios were reviewed by a committee made up of faculty and students. The awards were based on the four primary learning outcomes of the ePortfolio Project: effective communication, critical thinking through reflection, visual literacy, and technical competency. All winners presented clear and thorough ePortfolios that highlight their diverse educational and professional experiences.

Two students from the School of Industrial + Graphic Design were among the finalists in the ePortfolio competition: Fangyl Liu, a senior in industrial design who was nominated by Rusty Lay, Assistant Professor of industrial design, and Todd Durkee a senior in graphic design who was nominated by Wei Wang, Alumni Professor of graphic design. Graphic design professors Kelly Bryant and Wei Wang were also finalists for the Gary Brown Cohort Competition, which recognizes faculty members who exhibit a spirit of collaboration and joint ownership for implementing ePortfolios. The award is named in honor of Dr. Gary Brown, a national leader in innovative teaching and the use of ePortfolios.

Lesley Bartlett, Assistant Director of University Writing, ePortfolio Project, said, “ePortfolios at Auburn are opportunities for students to make meaning out of their learning experiences, and then communicate that meaning to a professional audience. This work wouldn’t be possible without the commitment of faculty members who have worked together to ensure that their students have guidance and opportunities to reflect. These students and faculty members have done work that is certainly worth celebrating.”

More information about the ePortfolio Project can be found here.