Alicia Shenko
B.S. Drexel University (Summa Cum Laude) – Environmental Science
M.S. Drexel University – Environmental Science
Ph.D. Rutgers University (scheduled to graduate in spring 2012) –Ecology and Evolution
Alicia Shenko started as an adjunct at DelVal in January 2010. In August 2011, she was promoted to a full-time faculty member.
She teaches courses related to Animal Behavior and Wildlife Management and in the spring will teach Wildlife Law and Policy.
She said she was drawn to her field because she wanted to do hands-on work with organisms and be a part of gathering the data that is used for conservation policymaking.
Shenko has served as an adjunct at Penn State Abington and a head teaching assistant at Rutgers University.
The wide variety of science programs and the student body at DelVal attracted her to the college.
“The students here are excellent and all very interested,” said Shenko. “There’s a great enthusiasm here that is sometimes missing in other programs.”
She said the students talk about their experiences working with animals in the classroom.
“I like teaching here particularly because of the student enthusiasm,” said Shenko. “A lot of the personal experiences that the students have add to the discussion and make it more lively. A lot of the time when you are talking about lemurs you don’t have students who are interning with a zoo. We have that here.”
She said a student who was bottle-raising lemurs at work was able to describe their behavior in class.
“That doesn’t happen anywhere else,” said Shenko.
The student described stink fighting, when lemurs rub scent on their tails and wave their tails at each other, to the class. Shenko said this behavior helps with communication and explaining territories and rank in a lemur group.
Shenko brings a wealth of hands-on animal experience to the classroom. She has worked on wildlife conservation projects with pine snakes, rattlesnakes and rodents of the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
Currently she is working with small mammals in post-agricultural wetlands (areas that were used once for farming that have restored to wetlands).
She is also working to educate the community about local small animal diversity.
“Depending on where people live, they can have huge diversity,” said Shenko.
She is trying to connect students and families with the wildlife around them and working to get community education programs off the ground.
In her free time she enjoys hiking, canoeing and working with animal rescue programs. She volunteers at the Trenton Animal Shelter and the Have a Heart Guinea Pig Rescue.
Shenko is a member of the American Society of Mammalogists, The Ecological Society of America, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and The Pinelands Preservation Alliance.
She is happy to be a part of an institution that prepares students to join conservation efforts.
“I’m excited (about what DelVal students will do in the future),” said Shenko. “I have strong confidence that our students will be very productive, strong members of the workforce. I have no worries about their abilities once they graduate to live and work as professionals.”
She also feels that the college is heading in a positive direction and looks forward to the new opportunities that the strategic plan will create for DelVal’s enthusiastic students.
Shenko discussing her research:
Restoration and conservation of natural lands is a pressing concern. With the spread of urbanization, the reclamation of abandoned agricultural land is becoming more important as natural areas disappear.
The development of complete ecosystem monitoring methods is essential for creating and maintaining these important habitats, and small mammals are important components of these ecosystems.
Using the analysis of small mammal populations and feeding ecology in post-agricultural lands, my research aims to provide information that can: (1) develop indicators
of mammals as active participants in the restoration of post-agricultural lands, and (2) increase working knowledge of understudied ecosystem components essential to whole-system conservation.
Using multi-year live trapping studies, I mainly focus on monitoring species diversity and population dynamics within natural and agricultural sites. Data from these studies helps to elucidate seasonal shifts in land use and community structure that have impacts on ecosystem function.
Additionally, small mammal populations have been shown to significantly impact seed and seedling survival and naturally alter succession, but data are lacking as to the further implications of small mammal communities on whole ecosystem function. My research explores these avenues.
Understanding the diversity of small mammal species is important for creating a framework for ecosystem monitoring. Taken together, the information from my research will provide information regarding small mammals as active participants in natural and modified ecosystem dynamics.
My research not only has implications for maintaining the health of small mammal populations, but also the health of modified ecosystems.