Tricia Shalka receives the University’s Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching

Tricia Shalka, assistant professor in the Warner School of Education’s higher education program, is a recipient of this year’s Graydon Curtis ’58 and Jane W. Curtis Award for Nontenured Faculty Teaching Excellence. Shalka received the award at the Warner Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 22 in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, Eastman School of Music. 

The University-wide award is given annually to recognize a nontenured faculty member who excels in both teaching and research.

Shalka’s primary research investigates the impacts of traumatic experience on college students, particularly in terms of developmental outcomes. She also maintains a secondary research interest in the internationalization of higher education with a particular emphasis on the experiences of international students in American colleges and universities. Shalka exemplifies excellence in the classroom, as a mentor and advisor, and as a colleague looking to innovate and explore new programming that meets the needs of Warner School students. She is described by students as being student-centered and highly supportive of their goals.

Her scholarship is actively informed by her previous experiences in higher education administration. She has worked in residential life, fraternity and sorority life, student affairs assessment, and student and young alumni programs. She currently serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Trauma Studies in Education and is on the editorial board of the Journal of College Student Development. Shalka has published in several major journals, including the Review of Higher Education, the Journal of College Student Development, and the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.

She has received several awards, including the American College Personnel Association’s (College Student Educators International) Emerging Scholars Award and the Association of College Unions International’s Chester A. Berry Scholar Award. Shalka received her doctorate in higher education and student affairs from the Ohio State University, her master’s degree in college student personnel from the University of Maryland, and her bachelor’s degree in English from Dartmouth College.