Risha, Truglio, Wozolek honored for excellence, named Penn State Teaching Fellows

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Grant Risha, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State Altoona; Maria Truglio, professor of Italian and women's, gender, and sexuality studies in the College of the Liberal Arts; and Boni Wozolek, associate professor of early childhood/elementary education at Penn State Abington, have received the Alumni/Student Award for Excellence in Teaching and have been named 2026 Penn State Teaching Fellows.

The Penn State Alumni Association, in conjunction with undergraduate and graduate governing bodies, established the award in 1988. It honors distinguished teaching and provides encouragement and incentive for excellence in teaching. Recipients are expected to share their talents and expertise with others throughout the University system during the year following the award presentation.

Grant Risha

Risha, who chairs the mechanical engineering program, said educators can shape students in ways that last a lifetime. He lets honesty, humanity and compassion guide his interactions with students.

"The consequence of student learning is a direct product of an educational journey embarked upon by the student and instructor," Risha said. "During this journey, the critical but positive assessment and dialogue of the manner in which a student learns and the method of which the instructor teaches weaves the fabric of educational success and inspiration."

Quoting the American writer William Arthur Ward, Risha said he is guided by the knowledge that "The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."

"I have tried to be the teacher who inspires. A strong rapport between teacher and student is the foundation of effective teaching," Risha said. "When an instructor exhibits humanity and passion in the classroom, students respond. Challenging a student is not the enemy of learning and discipline is not the enemy of development."

When students are treated fairly and with compassion, Risha said, they respond positively, even when pushed academically. He also reaches out to shy or struggling students. They're future engineers, so his goal is that they leave with a mastering of the methods used to solve complex problems. His goal is to give them the confidence and tools they need to learn and apply these skills to attacking difficult, real-world engineering problems.

"Because each student learns in different ways, I strive to create and use multiple pedagogical techniques, like breaking the students into groups and having them work a problem together," Risha said. "This promotes teamwork and peer teaching and learning. I encourage students to think critically, creatively and limitlessly to provide a glimpse of their aptitude beyond the subject at hand."

Risha is also an active academic adviser and researcher. He advises more than 20 students academically for their majors and has trained and supervised more than 75 undergraduate researchers. These students tackle real-world research objectives, often presenting at national and international conferences.

"My primary goal as an educator is to provide a platform for students to realize their inherent potential," Risha said. "I encourage and support students to become lifelong learners. Hopefully, in time, with persistence and determination, I will find myself among educators who truly inspire students and capture the ever-evasive honor defined by Ward as 'the great teacher.' "

Students praised Risha's positive attitude and dedication to the craft. One recalled a time when he and his peers were struggling with a concept while studying for an exam; Risha offered the group, many who were not his students, an impromptu lesson on the topic.

"His dedication is one of the driving forces behind the mechanical engineering program at Penn State Altoona," the student said. "He approaches education with genuine care for each individual student, taking time to understand how every person learns best and incorporating those learning preferences into his teaching. Whether working with adult learners, student athletes, change-of-campus students, or those who have been on a clear path from the start of their undergraduate studies, Dr. Risha ensures that every student receives a personalized and meaningful learning experience."

Maria Truglio

Truglio said she pulls from her experiences as a student of a nun who taught at an all-girls high school, who reminded her that the Latin root of the word "student" comes from the verb meaning "to be eager or zealous," and from the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci who strived for an environment where students could develop and mature and not be forced on predetermined paths. In short, education should be educative, not simply informative, Truglio said.

"While the University must take seriously its mission to prepare students to support themselves, the general ideas of which Gramsci speaks equip them to do so in a rapidly changing world and to contribute to their communities beyond their careers," Truglio said. "Thus, in order to facilitate each student's growth and eagerness to learn, I strive first to provide them with information and skills key to our subject as a step to animating their own curiosity, insights and potential."

As an educator of Italian language, literature and culture, Truglio strives to improve her students' fundamental communications skills. She said she wants them to think critically about cultural traditions often portrayed in American media by superficial stereotypes and task them with formulating their own educated perspectives.

One challenge, Truglio said, is encouraging students to read literature where the time and place of the characters is often foreign to them.

For example, she teaches Sibilla Aleramo's 1906 autobiography, "A Woman," where the protagonist seems passive for much of the novel, despite being married to an abusive spouse. She said students are often critical of Aleramo.

"While not discouraging such criticisms, I provide information on the legal, religious, and cultural contexts at play in early 20th-century southern Italy and early 21st-century America," Truglio said. "Together, we look closely at the linguistic and rhetorical strategies the author employs, such as not using any proper names. All these elements enable students to talk and to write about enduring questions such as agency and patriarchy."

In her course on Italian American culture, Truglio said, she has her students analyze political cartoons from the early 20th century that depict Italian immigrants as stereotypes; she encourages them to spot other, often more current, examples of stereotyping.

To open this level of dialogue, Truglio said she needs to be an active listener who is responsive to students' diverse learning styles.

"Engaged listening helps create an atmosphere of mutual respect by letting the students know that they are being taken seriously," Truglio said. "I challenge students to refine their comments and take them a step further, connect their remarks with ideas offered by other students, and respond to the challenges they pose to me in order to foster a real class discussion rather than a sequence of teacher-student dialogues. I strive to inspire my students to go on as lifelong learners and empathetic protagonists in their life stories, as they constantly challenge me to question my assumptions."

One of Truglio's students praised her passion, dedication and attentive nature toward her students. They said her guidance helped shape their career path.

"Whether it be academic or life-related, she ensures her students know they can talk to her about anything," the student said. "She connects with her students in a profound way, not just through the material we cover in class, but also as this pertains to our life outside of the classroom. This is what makes her stand apart from the others."

Boni Wozolek

Wozolek said strong teaching is what emerges when someone has carefully honed their craft. It's more than a profession; it's an art.

"Like all artforms, teaching is about conveying passion for content while finding multiple ingresses for students to experience the curriculum, which should be deliberately crafted with care," Wozolek said. "The notion of educating with my ethical commitments foregrounded is something that I take rather seriously because it allows Penn State students to see a blueprint of what this kind of educational ethos looks, sounds and feels like in action."

Honing your craft, she said, is a result of listening to students and adjusting to their feedback to create an environment where students have opportunities to learn and grow. She uses things like anonymous surveys to gather information about what's working and what's not. She's training the next generation of educators, so her personal growth is part of the curriculum, she added.

"I use this to tailor activities and content to students' needs. In turn, I see grading as an opportunity for dialogue. It is about more than feedback on an assignment," Wozolek said. "It is yet another opportunity to get to know students and collaborate with them to better understand what they need to be a stronger student and, in turn, a better future teacher. Students quickly learn that, for me, grades are less important than growth."

Her classes foster collaborations where students imagine solutions they can implement as educators. In one assignment, called artistic engagement, students are tasked with selecting a piece of art. Students select items as varied as music, videos and favorite recipes. Then students relate the selected art to the course content. Wozolek said this nontraditional assignment allows her students to think creatively while giving her a chance to get to know them.

She said another assignment, called soundscapes, tasks students with describing what learning "sounds like."

"I teach the basics of audio mixing software and, midsemester, we have a listening party." Wozolek said. "Students listen to each other's soundscapes and offer critical, yet caring, critiques. They use this feedback to improve before their final submission."

Wozolek said she's committed to offering multiple pathways for students to learn and demonstrate knowledge. Advanced educators are self-reflective, she said, so she wants students to do the same.

"Every semester, I look back at my own ethical commitments, evaluations and personal notes. I revise as necessary and think about how I will better enact these commitments next semester," Wozolek said. "I ask students to do the same: to craft ethical commitments for their future classrooms and revise often. I cannot think of anything more serious or significant than ensuring that our students teach as I try to: as an artform that is ethically enacted."

Students praised Wozolek's passion for teaching and for her honest lessons about the careers of educators. They said she's preparing them well for experiences they'll have in the classroom.

"What makes Dr. Wozolek truly stand out is her passion for what she teaches," a former student said. "It shines through every lesson, whether through thoughtful discussions, creative activities, or the way she connects classroom learning to the world around us. Her excitement and commitment are contagious, and they inspire her students to care deeply about the material as well."