Penn State's College of Education is regularly ranked among the nation's best graduate schools by U.S. News & World Report, and the graduate certificate in children's literature courses are taught by the same nationally recognized faculty.
Debra Freedman, Ph.D.
Dr. Freedman is a former middle school teacher. Her research interests include curriculum theory, supervisory practices, and cultural studies. In addition, Dr. Freedman is interested in teacher education—specifically, critical pedagogical strategies and mentoring practices of cooperating teachers with preservice teachers. She teaches undergraduate courses in secondary education and graduate courses in curriculum, supervision, and research.
Dan Hade, Ph.D.
Dr. Hade is an associate professor of language and literacy education, specializing in literature for children and young adults. He has lectured across the country and in Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, and South Korea. He is a former editor of the Journal of Children's Literature and serves on the editorial board of The Lion and the Unicorn. Prior to university teaching, he worked in schools in Iowa and Minnesota, where he taught fifth grade and was an elementary school library/media specialist, a gifted and talented teacher, and a junior high school basketball and track and field coach.
Lisa Hopkins, Ph.D.
Dr. Hopkins is an assistant professor of education specializing in literature for children and teaches full time in the World Campus children’s literature program. She joined the faculty at Penn State in 2007. Prior to her doctoral work at Penn State, she taught English, served as an academic adviser, and directed a reading/writing center at North Florida Community College in Madison, Florida. As a graduate teaching assistant at Florida State University, she taught freshman English composition and tutored in the reading/writing center. She has also worked as a technical writer for software development companies. Her research interests include multicultural poetry for children and the development of critical consciousness.
Marek Oziewicz, Ph.D.
Dr. Oziewicz is adjunct assistant professor of education, teaching Penn State online courses from Poland. At his home institution, the University of Wroclaw, he is professor of literature and director of the Center for Young People’s Literature and Culture. Recipient of the Fulbright (2005) and Kosciuszko Foundation (2006) scholarships, he has published articles and edited collections on children’s and young adult fantasy literature—his main field of expertise. His recent book is One Earth, One People: The Mythopoeic Fantasy Series of Ursula K. Le Guin, Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L’Engle and Orson Scott Card (McFarland 2008). His research interests include the role of myth-making in fantasy and young adult fiction, literary representations of justice, and environmental ethics.
Jacqueline Reid-Walsh
Associate professor of Education, Language, and Literacy Education, Jacqueline Reid-Walsh's (McGill University) research interests include historical children's literature and culture, children's and youth popular culture, comparative media literacy and girlhood studies. A literary historian working with theoretical lenses drawn from cultural studies, children's studies, and feminist studies, she has co-edited and co-authored several books. Her most recent book is Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia (2007). She is a founding editor of a new journal called Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. She has a joint appointment with the Department of Women's Studies.
Vivian Yenika-Agbaw, Ph.D.
Dr. Yenika-Agbaw, associate professor of language and literacy education, most recently served as a faculty member at Bloomsburg University in the English department where she was professor of English education. She holds a Ph.D. in language and literacy education, an M.A. in English education, and a B.A. in English. Her research interests include adolescent literacy, secondary English/critical literacy issues, and literature for children and young adults. She has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and most recently her book Representing Africa in Children’s Literature: Old and New Ways of Seeing was published by Routledge.
