APLU Staff Profile: Tia Freelove Kirk

Name: Tia Freelove Kirk
Department: STEM Education and Research Policy
Title: Program Coordinator
Date you joined APLU: April 2018

What current APLU project or initiative are you most excited about? Through APLU’s Student Engagement in Mathematics through an Institutional Network for Active Learning (SEMINAL) project, I am lucky to work with math education leaders at 12 campuses across the country as they work to increase student success in undergraduate mathematics classes by implementing active learning in the classroom. This is a National Science Foundation-funded initiative.

What are you most proud of during your time at APLU? Along with my work as part of the STEM Education and Research Policy Team, I also serve as manager of one of APLU’s Powered by Publics clusters. Through collaboration among more than 30 leaders at seven APLU member institutions, the High Enrollment Cluster is working together to implement evidence-based practices in advising and first-year communities to increase student success in the entry year.

What is your favorite thing about living in DC? There’s a lot I love about Washington, D.C. I love easy access to public transportation, discovering new restaurants, and visiting the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

What is one thing on your bucket list? I have always been fascinated by Mayan and Incan archeology. I studied abroad in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, but Machu Picchu and the Andes are still on my bucket list.

What was your dream job as a child? From age 5-15, I waffled between president of the U.S. and astronaut.

What’s the last book you read? “The Years that Matter Most: How College Makes or Breaks Us” by Paul Tough