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DEPARTMENT
HIGHLIGHTS
FACULTY & STUDENT AWARDS
Dr.
Catherine Kurkjian Appointed
Co-Editor of Bookbird
 Dr.
Kurkjian is co-editor of Bookbird along with Sylvia Vardel from the
School of Library and Informational Studies at Texas Women's
University.
Bookbird is an international journal of
the International Bureau of Books for Youth (IBBY), an organization
whose mission is to promote peace through children's literature.
IBBY sponsors the Hans Christian Andersen Award and also conducts
reading initiatives around the world. The Journal comes out four
times a year and although written in English encourages manuscripts
from around the world and will translate articles written in other
languages.
IBBY has over 70 national sections
including USBBY. Bookbird is posted on the IBBY website at: <http://www.ibby.org/index.php?id=276&L=0.html>
Dr. Cara
Mulcahy:
University-level 2008 CSU Trustees Teaching
Award
 Dr.
Mulcahy is recipient of the University-level 2008 CSU Trustees
Teaching Award at Central Connecticut State University. The Board of
Trustees Teaching Award was presented at the Board meeting of
Thursday, April 10, 2008 at Western Connecticut State University
Mid-Town Campus, Warner Hall.
The
Department of Reading and Language Arts Receives
2008
Graduate Community of Scholars Tribute Award
 The
Graduate Community of Scholars Tribute, which is presented annually
during the spring Graduate Forum, was established by the CCSU
Graduate Studies Committee in 2001 to recognize departments or
programs whose ongoing work and scholarly activities embody the
School’s five graduate tenets—Community of Scholars, Scholarly
Inquiry, Intellectual and Personal Integrity, Excellence, and
Leadership
Professor Abadiano
Honored for Exemplary Service in Promoting Literacy
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Dr. Helen R. Abadiano,
Professor & Chair, Department of
Reading &
 Language
Arts is the 2007-2008 recipient of the International Reading
Association (IRA) and the Connecticut Reading Association (CRA)
Award for exemplary service in the promotion of literacy.
The award was presented at the 56th Annual CRA Conference on
November 2. Among her notable contributions to promoting
literacy regionally and nationally include her strong
advocacy for adult literacy education that earned her an
Ambassador of Literacy recognition by the Literacy
Volunteers of Central Connecticut, serving as editor of The
Dragon Lode, the International Reading Association’s Journal
of the Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest
Group, co-author of the Research In Classroom section of the
New England Reading Association Journal (NERAJ), numerous
research, presentations and publications in various areas of
literacy education, service on committees in regional and
national/international professional organizations, and
leadership roles in training teachers in literacy. |
Catherine
Kurkjian:
Infusing Technology into Reading & Language Arts
Adjunct Excellence in
Teaching Award
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Ruth Lentini is
a former teacher in the Ellington Public Schools and
currently a learning consultant for the South Windsor Public
Schools. She holds the undergraduate (elementary education)
and master’s (reading) degrees from CCSU and is a graduate
of Central’s 6th-year certificate program. She resides in
Durham, CT.
Former CCSU
student Susan E. Horvath, who took Lentini’s upper-level
Literacy in the Elementary Schools class, describes Lentini
as energetic, effective, and enthusiastic. Horvath states,
“Mrs. Lentini’s teaching style was innovative. She taught
our college class using a parallel format as she would have
taught a true elementary classroom. We learned about and
participated in activities, assignments, games, and teaching
techniques and strategies that could all be utilized in
actual classrooms, with appropriate modifications to suit
our learning.”
According to an
Excellence in Teaching Award committee statement: “Professor
Lentini is a teacher of teachers, polishing professionals
who are already practicing in the infinitely creative world
of reading and literacy, skills at the center of our
definition of civilization. In the classroom she moves with
the precision of a Swiss watch, planning and executing with
extraordinary efficiency while responding to a tremendous
amount of student work. Yet in that efficient precision
there is ample room for each student’s unique contribution.
Using various approaches to learning, Professor Lentini has
constructed her classroom practices based not only on
conventional approaches to teaching reading, but also on
detailed analysis of teaching aids and their innovative and
disciplined use in the classroom. Students learn not only
how to teach reading but also how to improve their own
reading and writing skills. Her innovation, dedication to
her students’ learning, and efficiency are just some of the
many qualities that make her a truly excellent teacher.”
—
Geri Radacsi
Courier |
Professor Weiss Begins Connecticut Reading
Association Presidency
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Dr. Kenneth J. Weiss, Associate Professor of
Reading &
Language Arts, is this year’s president of the Connecticut
Reading Association, a state chapter of the International
Reading Association whose membership includes classroom
teachers, special education teachers, reading specialists,
consultants, administrators, supervisors, college teachers,
media specialists, and students. Dr. Weiss will also be
presenting the lecture, “Multimodal Approaches to Teaching
Writing,” at the 2007 annual conference of the National
Council of Teachers of English in New York, November 18. |
Joan
Hurley, Sixth Year Graduate Student, Named Teacher of the Year
Students Told: 'You
Sustain Me'
Magnet School Educator Named
Teacher Of Year
JOAN HURLEY, a third-grade
teacher at the University of Hartford Magnet School in West
Hartford, celebrates with her students after she was named
Connecticut Teacher of the Year for 2008. Hurley, 41, spent 12 years
at Hartford public schools before moving to the magnet school, where
she's been for the past six years. Story, (BOB MACDONNELL / October
30, 2007)
By RACHEL GOTTLIEB FRANK |
Courant Staff Writer
October 31, 2007
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