Dr. Trask

Professor Profile: Dr. Trask

By: Caroline Fuger

Newark, Del-- Before class begins in Smith Hall, Dr. Bahira Sherif-Trask, 57, shares a warm smile as  she stops to talk with one of  her students. Class has begun and Dr. Trask has already brightened her overwhelmed and over -worked students’ day by announcing that their paper deadline has been extended. The class is sighs an sign of relief.

Dr. Trask teaches courses on Diversity, Families, and Human Development. I had the opportunity to attend her Diversity and Families class. During her lectures,  Dr. Trask walks up and down the stairs in Smith Hall making sure she engages with all of her students. During her lectures, she often tells her students about her personal life and travels, hoping to engage and inspire her students to experience the world for themselves. Sitting in one of her classes one day,  the topic of the day was why fertility patterns has changed. Dr. Trask shares with her students a story about her experience volunteering in a home in Philadelphia. During her first few years at the University of Delaware, Dr. Task worked at a home for teenage mothers in Philadelphia. Working with young women opened Dr. Trask’s eyes to the differences among us. She explained to her students that the young mothers thought coca cola was a contraceptive. Laughter ensued throughout the class.While at the home she spent time teaching the young mothers by giving them advice and being a trusted person they could confide in.

Dr. Trask  has lived an accomplished life.  She has given numerous TED Talks on family relationships and globalization in Western and non-Western contexts and has authored a number of books. But her most important job is being a professor. Dr. Trask teaches classes on diversity and family relationships to both undergraduate and graduate students. She has been a professor at the University of Delaware for about twenty years.

She attended college at Yale University studying Political Science and earned her doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Cultural Anthropology.  It was while she was in graduate school that Dr. Trask found her calling to become a professor.  She said that it was pure luck that led her to become a professor at the University of Delaware.   

 Dr. Trask has learned many valuable life lessons from her time spent in the classroom. “Since I started teaching, I learned that life is full of ups and downs. I have had times where I haven’t been successful and I have also had times where I was successful. No matter what I learned is that I had to keep going and never give up”

She loves coming into work everyday and seeing her students. She hopes to inspire her students to become passionate about the material they are learning, but more importantly, to become independent, reflective, and lifelong learners.

Dr. Trask was born in Germany. Her mother was a publicist for the German Youth Exchange and Visitors' Bureau in Bonn. While growing up, Dr. Trask had an au pair from China. She was fascinated with how her au pair had a different upbringing than her own. It was then that she realized how little she knew about the world. She learned about the Chinese culture and found it interesting to learn that people were growing up differently than her. As Dr. Trask got to know her au pair, she soon realized that she was an only child and that as a result her parents could pour all their love into her. This early experience with another culture, along with her parents influence inspired Dr. Trask’s love of adventure and learning about the world through her travels.

It was her father who inspired her the most and instilled in her love and compassion for the people around her.  He was a criminologist and  a professor at  Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, Connecticut. “My father was a very wonderful person who believed in the humanity of people,” said  Dr. Trask.

When asked what advice she would give to President Trump, Dr. Trask pondered the question for a little bit and her answer was reflective.  “We are all diverse. To single out people based on one characteristic makes no sense at all. We are enriched by our differences and are all uniquely different from one another. We are truly an example of a what a country should be. We are the most powerful country and we should always remember that.”

For Dr. Trask diversity and family relationships will always be the driving force in her work as she shares her passion and knowledge with those who read her research, attend her TED Talks, but mostly for the fortunate students who are able to take her classes.