by Tammy Ryan

When you hear “adolescent online literacies, popular culture, digital media and learning, and professional development in the content areas”, you think Donna Alvermann, the Distinguished Research Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia. Donna recently received the International Reading Association Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG) 2012 Reading Research Award at the TILE-SIG session held during the IRA 57th Annual Convention in Chicago. 

TILE-SIG recognized Donna for her contributions to critical literacies and influential work on multiple literacies adolescents use in and outside the classroom environment. Articles exemplifying Donna’s visions for change include Why Bother Theorizing Adolescents' Online Literacies for Classroom Practice and Research? (2008) and Media, Information Communication Technologies (ICT), and Youth Literacies: A Cultural Studies Perspective (2004). With over 100 articles and chapters, 15 books, and 330 plus presentations and invited papers, Donna contributes her expertise to 45 editorial boards and research panels such as RAND/U.S. Department of Reading Research Panel (2000) and NAEP-Reading Assessment Panel (2009).

Donna represents the voice of adolescent readers internationally and nationally. She continually inspires pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, graduate students, and researchers alike to rethink critical literacy, social practices, and ways to incorporate new technologies into curricular practice to engage all students, particularly the adolescent struggling reader.

Donna is a former classroom teacher. She has an interest in writing non-academic microfiction for online publications and an interest in training a Golden Retriever to compete in AKC obedience. She received her Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Texas at Austin in 1965, her Master of Arts in Education from the University of Texas at Austin in 1968, and her M.L.S. in Information Studies and PhD in Reading and Language Arts Education from Syracuse University in 1980. 

Donna will present the keynote address, “How the Research on Students’ Computer Usage Could Change Reading Pedagogies – If We’re Attentive” at next year’s 2013 TILE-SIG session held at the IRA 58th Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas. Learn more about Donna and read selected articles, view her vita, or contact her at dalverma@uga.edu. 

Tammy Ryan is from Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, Florida. 

This article is part of a series from the Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

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