With nearly 20 years of classroom and administrative experience in higher education, Teresa Kuruc prizes genuine curiosity and reflection to identify learning opportunities that could resolve gaps in faculty, staff, and student understanding of each other’s experiences. Teresa became the UAGC VP of Faculty Affairs and ALO in 2023 after having served since 2018 in various faculty support and development leadership roles.
Teresa earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of California San Diego, where her scholarly work investigated how literary forms both reflect and impact the perception of everyday life and the subsequent formation of personal ethical structures, especially during politically volatile times. She has developed and taught curricula for undergraduate foreign language, culture, and literature courses at several universities and community colleges; managed academic-community outreach programs; and led the operationalization and scaling of Academic Affairs initiatives related to faculty teaching expectations, professional development, and engagement. Her scholarly and instructional work has motivated her use of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) “can-do” statements, an affirming and holistic assessment tool, as a model for building content competence and managing change in both student- and faculty-facing environments.