10/9/08

Pictured from left to right: Marla Rea,
Megan Terry, Renata Russo, Diana Mena
and Donna Mancuso

The Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL) honored its 2008-2009 doctoral fellowship recipients with an afternoon reception on Oct. 3, 2008, at the Texas A&M University Riverside Campus.

Those being honored included TCALL Fellows Diana Mena and Donna Mancuso and Barbara Bush Fellows Marla Rea, Renata Russo and Megan Terry.

Mancuso will concentrate her fellowship research on identifying avenues to expand the use of virtual learning opportunities for students in literacy and workforce education programs.

Mena's research interests include identifying and closing the literacy gap affecting displaced workers of Mexican-American descent.

Rea is researching how immigrant families' access to continuing education opportunities affects their children's success in school.

Russo is following up on a year of research as a TCALL Fellow in adult literacy and is interested in the impact of the four components of a family literacy program on parents' literacy development in obtaining their GED.

Terry, a 2007-2008 Barbara Bush Fellow, will retest and analyze the measures she created for the Home Literacy Environment Test. The test was administered to local Head Start parents so that it could soundly be used by a variety of researchers and professionals to improve literacy in the home.

The TCALL Fellowships are one-year awards given to two doctoral students pursuing adult literacy-related research at Texas A&M. The Barbara Bush Fellowships also are one-year awards provided for doctoral students conducting research on family literacy issues.