Two Valpo Professors Recognized for Excellence in Teaching

Valpo’s Committee to Enhance Learning and Teaching has selected Salena Anderson, Ph.D., associate professor of English and director of the Writing Center, and Tiffany Kolba, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics and statistics, as the 2019–2020 Valparaiso University Excellence in Teaching Award recipients.

The award recognizes a number of outstanding undergraduate faculty and/or units each year for general teaching excellence, with particular attention to excellence in any of three areas: course development, pedagogy and mentoring/advising. Each award carries a monetary stipend of $3,000 to honor each faculty members’ excellence in teaching on the Valparaiso University campus.

Anderson comes to Valparaiso University from the Ohio State University, where she earned a Ph.D. in linguistics. She specializes in English linguistics and language variation. Her teaching and research interests include sociolinguistics, linguistic and cultural diversity, ESL and the history of the English language. As a valued member of a department devoted to teaching excellence, Anderson consistently stands out as a respected teacher and mentor. Throughout her time here a Valpo she has revitalized the Writing Center through her development in peer tutoring, directing the center and mentoring peer tutors.

Kolba earned her undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University and her master’s and doctorate from Duke University. While designing the curriculum for the new statistics major, Kolba developed and offers a colloquium series in which students read and present items from professional literature. Since then, she has also completed preparation for having Writing in the Discipline (WID) activities incorporated into the colloquium series for statistics, data science and actuarial science majors.