Trisha Mileham

As Dean of the Library, Trisha Mileham is responsible for the leadership, coordination and guidance of 
the Library. Dean Mileham joined the Valparaiso University faculty in 1998, earning
 promotion to associate professor in 2004 followed by tenure in 2005. In 2008, she was
 named director of research services, managing the team-based department that
encompasses library instruction, reference, circulation, programming and outreach
 services. Previously, she has served as an advisor for exploratory major and has taught in
the Valpo Core program. She also serves as a mentor for pre-tenure cohort librarians.

Recently, Dean Mileham was selected as one of 17 library senior fellows at UCLA. This
 international cohort of top managers of academic libraries will visit UCLA in August for a
 three-week residential program that combines management perspectives, strategic 
thinking, and practical and theoretical approaches to the issues confronting academic
 institutions and their libraries. She attended Harvard Graduate School of Education
leadership institutes for academic librarians (2014, 2015) and was a member of the
inaugural American Libraries Association Leadership Institute (2013).

Dean Mileham’s recent scholarship and creative works include a chapter “Finding Sources of
 Evidence” in a nursing textbook, Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses: Appraisal and 
Application of Research, edited by Valpo colleagues Nola Schmidt and Janet Brown (4th ed.,
2019). In 2017, she collaborated with Kimberly Whalen in a creative work “Chocolate Layer 
Cake: Laying the Assessment of Library Student Worker Skills,” for the book 50+ Recipes for
Effective Assessment (2017). She and Professor Whalen presented a poster session for the 2014 
Medical Library Association Conference, “Is Their Foundation Solid Enough to Build On? An
 Investigation into the Information Seeking Skills and Self-Efficacy Levels of New Nursing 
Students.”

In service to the University, Dean Mileham has served on a variety of Faculty Senate committees. 
She was a Faculty Marshal beginning in fall 2004 and was appointed as University 
Marshal for the academic years 2012–2013 and 2013–2014. In 2015–2016, she served as appointed 
chair of the University’s Strategic Plan Goal One Task Force. She currently serves on the
 University’s Budget Review Committee and Retention Advisory Board.

Dean Mileham holds a master of arts in library and information science from the University of
 Iowa and a bachelor of arts in English from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She
 is a member of the American Library Association (ALA) and actively involved with ALA’s 
Association of College and Research Libraries, Library Leadership and Management 
Association, and Reference and User Services Association.