Chair
Stanford University
Rebecca D. Silverman is the Judy Koch Professor of Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. She began her career in education as an elementary school teacher in her hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. Passionate about supporting children’s literacy development, she earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in language and literacy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She studies language and literacy development and instruction for children in early childhood through elementary school.
Chair-Elect
Vanderbilt University
I am an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody School of Education and director of the Language, Literacy, Learning, and Equity Research Group at Vanderbilt University. My research, which includes quantitative and qualitative studies, explores the relationships between school-relevant language development and reading skill in adolescent learners with a particular focus on students designated as English Learners. I hold an Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, as well as an M.S.Ed. and B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Program Chair
University at Albany - SUNY
Lori Bruner is an assistant professor in the School of Education at the University at Albany. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education from Michigan State University, with a concentration on Language and Literacy. Broadly, her research explores how texts (both printed and digital) can support early literacy development, with a particular interest in how digital media can support children’s vocabulary learning. Dr. Bruner was named a Reading Hall of Fame Emerging Scholar Fellow in 2022 and is the recipient of multiple research awards for her work: the 2023 ILA Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan Outstanding Dissertation Award, the 2023 AERA Research in Reading and Literacy Dissertation Award for Literacy Excellence, and the 2024 AERA Vocabulary Research Award.
Co-Program Chair (Program Chair Advisor)
Boston University
Dr. Christina L. Dobbs is an assistant professor and director of the English Education program. Her research interests include academic language development, the argumentative writing of students, and professional development for secondary content teachers. Her work has been published in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Reading Research Quarterly, Professional Development in Education, and the Journal of School Leadership. She is the author of several books, including Investigating Disciplinary Literacy (2017) and Disciplinary Literacy Inquiry & Instruction (2019). She is a former high school teacher in Houston, Texas, as well as a literacy coach and reading specialist.
Program Chair-Elect
University of South Florida - Tampa
Dr. Elizabeth Burke Hadley is an associate professor of literacy studies at the University of South Florida. Dr. Hadley studies young children’s language and literacy development in pre-k classrooms. Her research focuses on how teachers can help foster young children’s oral language growth through conversations, shared book-reading, and play. She is also interested in identifying pre-k literacy instructional methods that support later reading comprehension.
Secretary/Treasurer
Brigham Young University
Rachel Knecht is an Assistant Professor of English Teaching at Brigham Young University. Before joining the English Teaching faculty at BYU, Rachel graduated with her PhD in Literacy Studies from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2024. She also formerly taught 7th, 10th, and 11th grade English in Nebo School District.
Secretary/Treasurer Advisor
Temple University
Dr. Sabina Neugebauer is an associate professor of literacy in the College of Education and Human Development at Temple University. Dr. Neugebauer’s research focuses on the language and literacy development of students in urban elementary and middle schools. Her work explores two aspects of efficacious reading: vocabulary and reading motivation. She investigates these two facets of reading at three complementary levels of analysis (individual, classroom and school context) to more comprehensively identify ways to support students in achieving equitable educational outcomes. She received her doctorate from Harvard University and her BA from Wesleyan University. She has served as a reading interventionist and collaborated with schools in the United States and in Latin America to develop multilingual, multi-tiered, and digital reading programs.
Newsletter Editor
Middle Tennessee State University
Having spent nearly a decade teaching language in K-12 public school settings, Dr. McClain’s research focuses on preparing teachers to meet the increasing linguistic demands of the classroom, both in terms of honoring the diverse linguistic backgrounds of students as well as supporting student access to the language of school.
Webmaster
University of California, Irvine
Julian Levine is a doctoral student at UCI School of Education, interested in research pertaining to language learning, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. He holds a B.A. in economics with a minor in psychology from UC San Diego and an M.A. in education with a focus on social research methodologies from UC Berkeley.
2022-2024 Young-Suk Kim
2020-2022 Dianna Townsend
2018-2019 Tanya Wright
2016-2017 Kathy Ganske
2015 Anita Hernandez
2012-2013-2014 Guy Trainin
2010-2011 Lori Helman
Nominations and Elections Committee
Notable Vocabulary Researcher Award Committee
Student Vocabulary Paper Committee
Proposal Reviewers