The Graduate School has selected Katelyn Tenuto ’23 as its November 2025 GradBird Scholar recipient. GradBird Scholar is an initiative to recognize graduate students for their scholarly endeavors at Illinois State University.
Currently a graduate student in the Master of Public Health program, Tenuto graduated with a bachelor’s in psychology from Illinois State. She loves to spend time with her dog, Roscoe, and volunteer at the local animal shelter. In her free time, she also enjoys trying new food and unique coffees, including a recent favorite: a white chocolate raspberry latte. One interesting fact about Tenuto is that she has been told she has a photographic memory!
What is your favorite part of your program?
My favorite part of my program is the people I have met. All of my professors and peers I have met within this program are nothing short of kind, amazing people. They truly care about public health, helping others, and contributing to advancing the field. They make the program fun!
Do you work with a specific faculty/staff member to help with your research? What has your experience been like working with them?
I work with Dr. (Alicia) Wodika, professor of the Health Sciences Department at ISU, for my research. I am actually a research fellow for Dr. Wodika. I have loved working with Dr. Wodika! She is intelligent, collaborative, and is always thinking outside of the box. I can tell she is truly passionate about her job and the research she is involved in.
Can you explain your research and the importance of it within your field?
My research aims to find the best way for Illinois State University students to play an active role in their community locally and globally. I am examining how taking an undergraduate level global health course impacts a student’s civic engagement on both an individual and collective level. A pre- and post-survey method is used to assess students’ civic attitudes, civic engagement behaviors, and views of global activism. For this study, civic attitudes are defined as personal beliefs and feelings that students have about their own involvement in their community and perceived ability to make a difference in it. Civic engagement behaviors are actions that a student can take to attempt to engage and make a difference in their community. Global activism is measured through open-ended statements such as asking students how they would describe a global citizen, and what skills young adults need to address global and local issues. This research will also be used to explore student apathy towards global citizenship and links to social cognitive theory such as a student’s sense of self-efficacy. This is important within my field because we are tracking the growth of these students and using this information to develop tools to foster engagement and involvement.
Why do you enjoy researching this topic and what more do you hope to learn about it?
I enjoy researching this topic because it involves student engagement and I think that adds to one’s college experience tremendously. I think civic engagement helps develop a sense of identity and community.
What do you hope further research about this topic will do to benefit the greater of society?
Through my research, I want ISU Global Health students to learn about civic engagement and how they can advocate both locally and globally. I believe it is important for students to recognize that they are part of a larger community and to feel empowered to be leaders and advocates. Civic engagement plays an important role in the ISU student experience and can help students achieve lifelong learning via active citizenship. By examining students’ behaviors and attitudes towards civic engagement, and views on global citizenship, we can implement changes and develop new resources to help them discover how they can advocate for meaningful change. This knowledge and empowerment can extend to other students, and organizations and resources can be shared campus-wide to make a lasting impact on society.
Would you like to highlight anything else about your research or promote anything specific you are involved in?
My current research was actually started by a friend I met in the MPH program at the SOPHE conference in Los Angeles, California. Her name is Josie Trainor, and she graduated this past year. I learned more about her research by attending her capstone presentation and I was intrigued. It was cool how it all came full circle! If anyone is looking to become involved with global citizenship, I am currently part of the Pen Pal Program for Murphy Charitable Foundation. This program supports children in Uganda and you are matched with a child to write to once a month. I highly encourage being involved with this and supporting a child as well as learning about different cultures.
