NCRLL DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR AWARDS

2023 EARLY CAREER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR

Dr. Tracey T. Flores is an assistant professor of Language and Literacy Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Flores is a former English Language Development (ELD) and English Language Arts (ELA) teacher, working for eight years alongside culturally and linguistically diverse students, families, and communities in K-8 schools throughout Glendale and Phoenix, Arizona. Her research focuses family and community literacies, language and literacy practices of Latina mothers and daughters, and teaching young writers in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. Through my research, I advocate for literacy classrooms in which the languages, practices, and resources of students and their families are central to our collective learning of what it means to be a reader, writer, and storyteller and how we engage with and alongside families.

Dr. Flores is the founder of Somos Escritoras/We Are Writers, a writing and art workshop for Latina girls (grades 6-8) that invites them to share and perform stories from their lived experiences using art, theater, and writing as a tool for reflection and examination of self and world. In addition, Dr. Flores is the Co-Chair of the Latinx Caucus of National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the Founding Co-Chair of the Commission on Family and Community Literacies of English Language Arts Teacher Educators (ELATE). She is a member of the 2016-2018 Cultivating New Voices Among Scholars Color (CNV) cohort and Cohort Three of Professional Dyads and Culturally Responsive Teaching (PDCRT). In 2019, Dr. Flores was named the Promising Researcher by the NCTE Standing Committee on Research.

Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award Description

Early Career nominees should have careers as language and literacy scholars for no more than 6 years. The Early Career recipient’s pursuit of scholarship and practice demonstrates a growing trajectory of:

• •Contributions to the goals of equity, anti-oppression, and anti-racism
• •Commitment to partnership and collaboration with K-12 colleagues, schools, youth, and/or community organizations and community-based colleagues
• •Responsible intellectual risk-taking that seeks to push the field
• •A robust launch to an impactful area of inquiry and practice.
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2023 MID-CAREER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR

Dr. Angie Zapata, associate professor of Language and Literacies Education at the University of Missouri, is a longtime teacher, teacher educator and researcher. Through collaborative inquiry partnerships with practicing and inservice PK-12 teachers, her research publications highlight classroom experiences featuring picturebooks with diverse representation, and how/what translingual and transmodal literacies are produced in those moments. Dr. Zapata’s research is guided by her experiences growing up bilingual in Texas as a daughter of immigrant parents from Perú, and deep commitments to center anti-oppressive and justice-oriented language and literacies experiences in the classroom that nurture more inclusive schooling experiences for racialized bi/multilingual/multidialectal children and youth.

Her research and teaching contributions have been recognized as a recipient of the Early Career Research Award from the National Council of Teachers of English Children’s Literature Assembly and as the Inaugural Recipient of the Dr. Lydia Walker Faculty Fellowship in Reading and Literacy from the University of Missouri. Her service to the field includes serving as co-editor of Literacy Research: Theory, Methods, and Practice as well as the Journal of Children’s Literature. Currently, Dr. Zapata partners in research with early childhood educators in racially, linguistically, and ethnically complex Missouri classrooms with generous support from the Foundation for Child Development and the U.S. Department of Education. Her research has been published in journals such Research in the Teaching of English, Journal of Literacy Research, Language Arts, The Reading Teachers, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, and English Teaching, Practice and Critique. Her book entitled Deepening Student Engagement with Diverse Picturebooks: Powerful Classroom Practices for Elementary Teachers is forthcoming as part of the Principle in Practice Series published by the National Council of Teachers of English.

Mid-Career Distinguished Scholar Award Description

Mid-Career nominees should have careers as language and literacy scholars for no less than 7 and no more than 14 years. In addition to the above criteria for Early Career Scholars, the Mid-Career recipient pursues scholarship and promotes practice that demonstrates sustained and growing pursuit of multiple venues for sharing and disseminating their work, which may include:

• •Publications aimed at varying audiences;

• •Presentations in various venues that may include national, regional, or local conferences; professional development; community forums, etc.

• •Forms of public scholarship, such as op-eds, blogs, social media presence, community talks or performances, etc.

2023 SENIOR CAREER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR

Elizabeth Birr Moje is dean, George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education, and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture in the Marsal Family School of Education. Moje teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in secondary and adolescent literacy, cultural theory, and research methods and was awarded the Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize with colleague, Bob Bain, in 2010. A former high school history and biology teacher, Moje’s research examines young people’s culture, identity, and literacy learning in and out of school in Detroit, Michigan.

Moje has published 5 books and numerous articles in journals such as Science, Harvard Educational Review, Teachers College Record, Reading Research Quarterly, Socius, Journal of Literacy Research, Review of Education Research, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Science Education, International Journal of Science Education, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, and the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Her research projects have been or are currently funded by the National Institutes of Health/NICHD, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, National Science Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, Spencer Foundation, International Reading Association, and the National Academy of Education. Moje is a member of the William T. Grant Foundation Board of Trustees, an elected member of the National Academy of Education, and an elected member of the Reading Hall of Fame. In 2022, she received the Oscar Causey Award for Distinguished Contributions in Literacy Research from the Literacy Research Association.

In September, 2018, together with several partners, including the Detroit Public Schools Community District and the Kresge Foundation, Moje announced the School of Education’s participation in the development of a cradle-to-career education system in a northwest Detroit neighborhood, on the Marygrove College campus. This vertically aligned education continuum now supports the learning of children and families from before birth through age 5 as well as grades K-2, 9-12, and postsecondary educator preparation. The schools will continue to add one grade per year and until they have a comprehensive prenatal through grade 12 set of offerings for children and families in Detroit. 

Senior Career Distinguished Scholar Award Description

Senior Scholar nominees should have careers as language and literacy scholars for no less than 15 years. In addition to the above criteria for Early and Mid-Career Scholars, the Senior Career recipient’s pursuit of scholarship and practice demonstrates:

• •Impact in fostering equity, anti-oppression, and anti-racism
• •Sustained and responsible intellectual risk-taking that has pushed the field in the scholar’s area of focus
• •A clear record of and commitment to mentorship
• •An ethos of care, community, and interdependence in the field

Previous Award Winners 

2020 EARLY CAREER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR

Dr. Michiko Hikida is an assistant professor of Elementary Language Arts. Her scholarship focuses on making classrooms more joyful and humanizing for elementary school students, and particularly for students of color, bi/multilingual students, and students identified as learning disabled or “struggling” readers. She examines classroom language and literacy practices of and about students located at the intersection of race, language, and ability.

Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award Description

Early Career nominees should have careers as language and literacy scholars for no more than 6 years. The Early Career recipient’s pursuit of scholarship and practice demonstrates a growing trajectory of: 

• Contributions to the goals of equity, anti-oppression, and anti-racism
• Commitment to partnership and collaboration with K-12 colleagues, schools, youth, and/or community organizations and community-based colleagues
• Responsible intellectual risk-taking that seeks to push the field
• A robust launch to an impactful area of inquiry and practice.

2020 MID-CAREER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR

Dr. Detra Price-Dennis is an Associate Professor of Education in the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology at Teachers College, Columbia University, in the Communications, Media, Learning Technologies, and Design program. Her scholarship draws on ethnographic and sociocultural lenses to examine the intersections of literacy education, technology, and curriculum development as a means to identify and amplify equity-oriented pedagogies in K-8 classrooms.

Mid-Career Distinguished Scholar Award Description

Mid-Career nominees should have careers as language and literacy scholars for no less than 7 and no more than 14 years. 

In addition to the above criteria for Early Career Scholars, the Mid-Career recipient pursues scholarship and promotes practice that demonstrates sustained and growing pursuit of multiple venues for sharing and disseminating their work, which may include:

• Publications aimed at varying audiences;
• Presentations in various venues that may include national, regional, or local conferences; professional development; community forums, etc.
• Forms of public scholarship, such as op-eds, blogs, social media presence, community talks or performances, etc.

2020 SENIOR CAREER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR

Senior Scholar nominees should have careers as language and literacy scholars for no less than 15 years.

In addition to the above criteria for Early and Mid-Career Scholars, the Senior Career recipient’s pursuit of scholarship and practice demonstrates:

• Impact in fostering equity, anti-oppression, and anti-racism
• Sustained and responsible intellectual risk-taking that has pushed the field in the scholar’s area of focus
• A clear record of and commitment to mentorship
• An ethos of care, community, and interdependence in the fiel