Victoria J. Marsick, PhD

Hall of Fame Class of 2006

Victoria J. Marsick, PhD, is a professor of Adult and Organizational Learning in the Department of Organization & Leadership, Teachers College, Columbia University, where she has made significant contributions to the field of adult learning in the theory and practice of human resource and organizational development. Since the publication of her first book, Learning in the Workplace, she has brought a rich understanding of the nature of individual, team and organizational learning to scholars and practitioners of adult and continuing education. 

Marsick has held numerous leadership positions at Teachers College, serving as head of the innovative Adult Education Guided Independent Study (AEGIS) program at Teachers College, as well as the department chair. She was a leading force in securing the funding for, and creating the concept of, the J.M. Huber Institute for Learning in Organizations, and she serves as co-director of the Institute. She also hosts the Workplace Learning Institute at Teachers College for human resource and organization developers 

Outside of the Teachers College, Marsick has served as chair of the Research Committee of the American Society for Training and Development, on the board of the Academy of Human Resources Development, and as an active member of the International Foundation for Action Learning.

Her collaboratively developed models of informal and incidental learning have been used in more than 30 dissertation studies, and her conception of action learning has helped create greater awareness of this approach to improving adult and continuing education. Marsick’s students have won dissertation of the year awards and now hold faculty and leadership positions in adult and continuing education throughout the world. 

Marsick holds a Ph.D. in Adult Education from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.P.A. in International Public Administration from Syracuse University. Prior to joining Teachers College, she was a training director at the United Nations Children’s Fund. She has been a keynote speaker for conferences throughout the world, representing the field and Teachers College in each of these venues. 

Marsick is a recognized authority on the learning organization, informal learning, team learning, and action reflection learning. Her contributions, spanning the individual and organizational perspectives on adult learning, are evidenced consistently in her scholarship, her influence on students, and her practical work with organizations throughout the world.