Name: Shannon Telenko
Majors Advised: Psychology
(While at World Campus I advised criminal justice, information science and technology, human development and family studies, advertising/public relations, and psychology.)
Hometown: Jerome, Pennsylvania
Educational Background:I went to college at Robert Morris College (now University). I was a student athlete and interested in becoming an athletics director so I studied sports management. As one of the captains of the soccer team, the freshmen on the team seemed to rely on my for my knowledge and experience with college so far. I knew I wanted to work with college students as a career so right after college I attended graduate school at the Peabody College at Vanderbilt in higher education administration with a focus on college student personnel. After working in residence life for a couple of years after graduate school, I decided what I really preferred was academia or academic affairs in some form – teaching, writing, research, and advising. So after several years of pursuing a PhD in cultural anthropology, teaching at a community college, staying at home with my twins (who are now 7 years old), and working in poverty and health care research – here I am in academic advising, which after trying out so many areas is now my favorite aspect of higher education (but I still love the other aspects too).
Something most students don’t know about you: I’m still working on my PhD in cultural anthropology from American University, which I hope to finish up by spring 2015.
If you could do college over again: I am a first generation college student, and I really had no idea what I was getting myself into when I came to college. If I could do it all over again, I would have started off with a liberal arts education (and so it’s really fun for me to be advising students in the liberal arts).
What you like most about your job: I love helping students to see that college is not just about going to class and graduating so that you can get a job. When a student’s eyes light up because they realize their interests and passions can be incorporated into their academic and vocational plans I know I’m doing a good job.