NEWS BITES
ALMASI DELIVERS PRESIDENTIAL
ADDRESS AT LITERACY MEETING
YOUNGWORTH NAMED WORLD
LANGUAGE TEACHER OF THE YEAR
Dr. Janice F. Almasi delivered the presidential address
at the annual meeting of the Literacy
Research Association in Carlsbad, Calif.,
in December. Her address examined the
challenges and opportunities of working
across disciplinary boundaries in literacy
research. Her situational analysis of
the social worlds and arenas present
in an interdisciplinary research project
was used to illustrate the complexity of
Almasi
interdisciplinary partnerships and the
manner in which boundary objects were
created to negotiate boundaries. The
interdisciplinary research project on which she is a coprincipal investigator is funded by the U.S. Department of
Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. In that project,
she is working with Dr. Betty Lorch and Dr. Rich Milich
in the Department of Psychology to design, implement and
pilot test an intervention to lessen narrative comprehension
difficulties for third-graders who are at risk for ADHD.
The Literacy Research Association is a community of
scholars dedicated to promoting research that enriches the
knowledge, understanding, and development of lifespan
literacies in a multicultural and multilingual world. The
organization is considered the largest, and most prominent,
association of literacy researchers in the United States. Dr.
Almasi’s address marked the end of her presidency, in which
she served as chief executive officer of the organization.
During her presidency she also worked with the Board of
Directors to initiate a strategic planning process to plan for
the future of the organization. She is currently serving as
past president, which is the culmination of several years of
dedicated service to the organization after having served as
vice president, president-elect, and president.
College of Education alumna Laura
Roche Youngworth has been named
World Language Teacher of the Year
for the Southern Conference on
Language Teaching. She will move
on to compete for National World
Language Teacher of the Year in Boston
in November. She is currently teaching
French at Beaumont Middle School.
SWAN ADDRESSES STATE
OF CIVICS EDUCATION IN
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Dr. Kathy Swan participated in a
conversation on the state of civics
education at the Albert Shanker Institute
in Washington, D.C., in January. She was
among a small group of invited civics
education leaders from across the nation.
The group discussed the marginalization
of civics education and what can be done
Swan
to ensure schools continue to provide
education for democratic citizenship,
given the growing emphasis on other subjects such as
English language arts, mathematics and science.
COE COMMUNICATOR | APRIL 2016
Youngworth
CANTRELL VOLUNTEERS
IN ECUADOR
Dr. Susan Cantrell applies dental sealants at a school in
Ecuador
Dr. Susan Cantrell visited 10 schools in two days on
the coast of Ecuador in February, administering a fluo