Zuhlke, Dana, English

About Mrs. Zuhlke:

I grew up in the State College area and graduated from State High. During grade school, I spent two years living in Cambridge, England, while my father, professor emeritus of English at Penn State, was on sabbatical leave. On our return, my mother, a former instructor of English at Penn State, became editor of Penn State Agriculture magazine, a position she held until her retirement. My brother, also a graduate of State High and of Penn State's English Department, is a professional musician.

I earned my bachelor's degree in French from Vassar College in New York State and then spent two years pursuing graduate studies in French, English, and Education at Penn State before my husband, Jim, and I started our family.  I returned to graduate school at Penn State in the fall of 2001.  In the intervening years, I had a variety of teaching experiences, including Childbirth Education and Girl Scouts.

Throughout the 2004/05 school year, I served as an intern in the collaborative partnership between Penn State and State High known as the Professional Development School (PDS), co-teaching four sections of twelfth grade English, both College Preparatory (CP) and Advanced Placement (AP) levels, and one section of Problems of Democracy. That summer I earned my Master's of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction and my Pennsylvania teaching certificate in English and Communications. In the past seventeen years, I have taught both Advanced and English 10, as well as English 12, CP English 12, and English 9.

Each year, I'm privileged to work with a student teacher from Penn State. I feel I learn from them almost as much as I teach them. It's also great to have more support for students in the classroom.

This is my fifth year serving as co-advisor to the Philosophy + Ethics Club. I love carrying on discussions about "big ideas" with students beyond the classroom.

Jim and I have four daughters, all State High graduates: Emma is a Kutztown University graduate who works as a photographer in Albany/Troy, New York. Diana, an Indiana University of Pennsylvania graduate who earned her master's degree in Couple and Family Therapy from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, works with CenClear at Oceola Elementary in Philipsburg and gave us a new grandson, Daniel, in February of 2021. Julia, a Penn State graduate who majored in Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, works for Penn State in the University Libraries Business Office and brought us our 12-year-old grandson, Viktor, through marriage. And Sarah, a graduate of Pennsylvania College of Technology, who majored in Information Technology, works at the Penn State IT Service Desk. We enjoy camping, kayaking, picnicking, supporting our favorite football teams, and playing with our grandsons, as well as our grand-dogs and -cats.