Rate My Professor Katy Strzepek

Dr. Katy Strzepek serves as the director of the Center for Civic Engagement at Illinois State University, a position she assumed in February 2020 upon becoming the first director of the center's team. Previously, she directed the Women and Gender Studies Program and WGS Resource Center at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, where she organized the Ambrose Women for Social Justice Conference, bringing human rights activists to campus. Her career also includes active involvement with organizations such as Argrow’s House of Healing and Hope, Amnesty International, the Trauma-Informed Consortium of the Quad Cities, World Relief, and the Iowa Human Rights Research Conference. Strzepek's academic background includes a bachelor’s degree in history from Kenyon College, a master’s degree in African history from Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. in higher education administration and foundations from Illinois State University in 2018. For her doctoral work, she received the Paul Vogt Higher Education Dissertation of the Year Award. Her studies abroad in Spain and Kenya have informed her commitment to preparing students as responsible global citizens.

Strzepek's research specializations encompass transnational girls’ studies and transnational feminist debates, reflected in key publications such as “Stop Saving the Girl: Pedagogical Considerations for Transnational Girls’ Studies” (2016) and “The Long Table of Feminism: Bringing Transnational Feminist Debates to a Small School in Iowa” (2011, co-authored with Beatrice Jacobson and Katherine Van Blair). She has earned the American Association of University Women Distinguished Faculty Award for Iowa and the YWCA of the Quad Cities Award for Racial Justice and Civic Rights. In her current role, she coordinates civic engagement opportunities including education events, service projects, Alternative Break programs, and cocurricular initiatives that connect service to justice. She directs the civic engagement and responsibility minor, an interdisciplinary program emphasizing social issues through an intersectional lens. Under her leadership, the center earned Carnegie Foundation designation, developed a strategic plan integrating anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion, secured grants for Deliberative Dialogues, and implemented voter engagement plans. Additionally, Strzepek chairs the Administrative Professional Council (term expires 2026) and advises the GROWTH Change Team, advancing university-wide civic engagement and social justice efforts.