A member of the OWU faculty since 1979.

• Chair, Department of Education
• Recipient of the Bishop Herbert Welch Meritorious Teaching Award
• Rodefer Professor of Education;
• Director, Early Childhood Program;
• Director, University Honors Program

Education

• B.A. History, Ohio Wesleyan University
• M.A.T. Elementary Education, Emory University
• M.A. Reading & Children's Literature, Ohio State University
• Ph.D. Children's Literature, Curriculum & Administration, The Ohio State University

Courses

• EDUC 252: Children's Literature and Teaching Reading
• Early Literacy
• Fantasy in Children's Literature (honors tutorial)
• Supervise student teachers

Professional Memberships

• Children's Literature Assembly, Past President & Board Member
• Children's Literature SIG of the International Reading Association, Past-President and Board Member
• Ohio Council of the International Reading Association, Past-President
• National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE): Chair, Excellence in Poetry Committee; Chair, Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts Committee
• Notable Books for a Global Society Selection Committee
• National Conference on Research in English and Center for Expansion of Language and Thinking (member by invitation only)
• The Literacy Connection, Board Member
• American Education Research Association
• Kappa Delta Pi

Honors

• 1998 Herbert Welch Meritorious Teaching Award
• 1986 National Promising Young Researcher, NCTE
• 1986 Dissertation of the Year, KDP Honor Society
• Martha Holden Jennings Award for Classroom Teaching
• Outstanding Young Career Woman
• Robert K. Marshall Award (Outstanding campus service by faculty)

Professional Interests

• Reading
• Children's Literature

Personal Interests

• Hiking
• Reading
• Travel