Faculty

Dr. Emily Aguiló-Pérez is an assistant professor of education (children's literature) at Penn State. Her previous research examined the social and cultural implications that experiences with Barbie had on women's and girls' lives. Her current research examines representations of Puerto Rican identity in children's literature. Her teaching experience encompasses education at the elementary, high school, and college levels. She has taught Children's Literature, The Creative Child, and Teaching English to English Language Learners. Other areas of research include children's literature, girlhood studies, Latinx studies, and ESL.

Dr. Gail Boldt has taught Teaching Reading in Elementary Classrooms; Teaching Writing in Elementary Classrooms; Theories of Childhood; Theories of Identity; and Foucault and Education. Her research interests include psychoanalytic analyses of child development, parenting, teaching and learning; literacies in elementary and early childhood education; identity (including gender, sexuality, and race) and schooling; childhood studies; cultural studies: and disability studies.

Dr. Elisa Hopkins is an associate teaching professor of education specializing in literature for children and adolescents. She is lead faculty for the Penn State World Campus Children's Literature program. Her research interests include multicultural poetry, the development of critical consciousness, fairy-tale studies, and nonfiction literature for children and adolescents.

Dr. Vivian Yenika-Agbaw has published numerous articles and co-authored or co-edited several books, including Using Nonfiction for Civic Engagement: Critical Approaches (2018; with Ruth McKoy Lowery and Paul H. Ricks). She served on several editorial boards and reviewed manuscripts for numerous publications. She currently serves on the International Research Society for Children’s Literature and is an active member of the National Council of Teachers of English and Children’s Literature Association.