After earning my B.S. and M.A. in Education from the University of Texas in Austin, I spent the next twelve years of my career on the front lines where I taught students in the public education sector in both Texas and New York. Those years informed my graduate work at Syracuse University where I earned a second Master's degree in Information Studies and a Ph.D. in Reading and Language Art Education in 1980.
At that point, I began writing grant proposals to research literacy teaching and learning both in and out of school. When funded, these grants provide support for graduate students to study full time at the University of Georgia. One such funded grant led to establishing the National Reading Research Center at UGA. More recently, I co-designed a Creative Commons website that invites participants to upload their creative work so that others can remix it with their own creations. Come join us at http://www.becoming3lectric.com/
For work and in my spare time, I enjoy traveling to different places. I’ve lectured in Canada, Hungary, Ireland, England, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and every state in the U.S. except Idaho and Mississippi; advised on research grants in Germany, Hungary, and Italy; and toured Russia, Finland, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Scotland, Mexico, Austria, France, Aruba, Trinidad/Tobago, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, and Tahiti. I trained German Shepherds until a few years ago; now I’m working with our first Golden Retriever “puppy” who will soon be 6 years old.