SDSU Researcher Receives National Award from NASPA
College of Education professor Marilee Bresciani Ludvik will receive the Robert H. Shaffer Award for Academic Excellence as a Graduate Faculty Member.
The 15,000-member NASPA, the leading international association for the advancement, health, and sustainability of the student affairs profession, will honor Bresciani Ludvik and other national award recipients during its national conference in Los Angeles in March.
Bresciani Ludvik, professor of postsecondary educational leadership at San Diego State University, relies on translational neuroscience and mindful compassion practices to inform the design and evaluation of workshops, curriculum and coaching practices to decrease stress and anxiety among students, faculty and administrators on campus. Her research also informs practices that help increase attention and emotion regulation and cognitive flexibility, as well as enhanced compassion towards self and other, inquiry, creativity and overall well-being.
“I feel deeply humbled for two main reasons: Five of our alumni nominated me for this award, and I was selected by my peers to receive it,” said Bresciani Ludvik, who serves on SDSU’s Student Learning Outcomes and Programmatic Assessment Committee, and has served on the university’s Student Success Working Group.
“To me, this award is really about all of our program faculty and community partners because we all know that it takes a village to see a student through to graduation and job placement,” she said. “And this award is especially about the alumni themselves. If it weren't for those alumni applying, adapting and making improvements of what I had the privilege to research and share with them, then there would be no positive impact to celebrate.”
Established in 1986, the NASPA award is named in honor of Shaffer, dean and professor emeritus at Indiana University. It is presented to a tenured, full-time faculty member in a graduate preparation program in student affairs. Bresciani Ludvik has worked within the recently established Office of Educational Effectiveness, where she assists in connecting student learning and development outcomes to equity performance indicators in a manner that can inform improvements in in-class, out-of-class, and program design and delivery.
To date, Bresciani Ludvik has written 12 books, published more than 200 scholarly articles and empowered over 200 institutions and their leaders on organizational learning assessment and accountability decision-making processes. She has received numerous other awards for her work, including: the International Association for Student Personnel Pillar of the Profession Award; the International Association for Student Personnel George Kuh Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature/Research in Higher Education; the American College Personnel Administrators Diamond Honoree; and the UNESCO/MGIEP Senior Research Fellow.
