Please share this announcement with colleagues who are engaged in
doctoral studies related to family literacy.

 

The Barbara Bush 2009-2010 Doctoral Research Fellowships in Family
Literacy at TCALL 

Up to $100,000 in Fellowship Funds Available

 

The Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL)
announces the availability of $100,000 in Barbara Bush Fellowships for
the 2009-2010 academic year. Each fellowship will consist of a one-year
award, which may be used to offset the cost of travel expenses to
conferences, dissertation research, and/or tuition, fees, and
maintenance while a student is enrolled at Texas A&M University (TAMU).
Two to four Barbara Bush Fellowships of between $25,000 and $33,333 each
will be awarded for research on topics relevant to family literacy. 

 

The exact amount of the fellowship award will be decided at the end of
the selection process. If four fellowships are awarded, each will be
funded at $25,000. If three or fewer fellowships are awarded, each will
be funded at $33,333.

 

Family Literacy is defined for purposes of this Fellowship as follows:

Family literacy programs generally offer literacy (reading, writing, or
oral language skill) instruction for the whole family - both adults and
their young children. Children in family literacy programs are typically
infants through early elementary grades. Parenting education is offered
in addition to literacy instruction for adults and early childhood
education for their young children. Family Literacy programs also
include Interactive Literacy Activites (ILA) or Parent and Child
Together (PACT) activities that give parents instruction and practice in
effective methods for reading with their children. Many family literacy
programs also include home visits for further instruction and modeling
of parenting practices and ILA or PACT activities in the home
environment.

 

Research topics relevant to family literacy (as defined above) would
include, for example: impact of professional development on family
literacy programs; parent and child literacy development; effects of
parents' educational attainment or literacy level on children's
educational outcomes; cultural differences in parenting style and
culturally sensitive approaches to encouraging family involvement in
children's education; effects of parent education in family literacy
programs on parenting behaviors; and effects of family literacy program
participation on school readiness for participating children, as well as
the literacy development of the parent.

 

 

Requirements:

            

The fellowships will be awarded for a one-year academic period beginning
August 31, 2009 through June 30, 2010. The following requirements will
apply to recipients of the Barbara Bush Fellowship at TCALL award:

*	Be available to attend the April 23, 2009 Celebration of Reading
event in Houston, at which the 2009-2010 Barbara Bush Fellows will be
announced.
*	Present at two conferences in the field of Family Literacy,
including (if presentation proposal is accepted) the National Conference
on Family Literacy (NCFL).
*	Attend the grantee meeting for The First Lady's Family Literacy
Initiative for Texas, A Program of the Barbara Bush Texas Fund for
Family Literacy, if possible. This meeting will be scheduled in August
2009, before the 2000-2010 Fellowship year officially begins.
*	Work with TCALL Faculty Principal Investigator toward submission
of a co-authored peer-reviewed journal article.
*	Be available for occasional meetings and the possibility of
conducting onsite research at the TCALL Riverside Campus location.
*	Time commitment is approximately 20 hours per week over the
course of the academic year.
*	Subscribe to TCALL's statewide Family Literacy email discussion
list as well as NCFL's national discussion list. Participate in
statewide discussion by contributing postings about Fellowship research
as well as research and best practices in the field of family literacy
generally.

 

 

Eligibility:

            

To qualify for the Barbara Bush Fellowship at TCALL you must:

*	Be admitted on a full-time basis to Texas A&M University. You
are not required to reside in the Bryan-College Station area, but you
must be willing to make yourself available for meetings and the
possibility of working onsite on existing TCALL research projects.
*	Be enrolled in a doctoral program. All qualified applicants are
encouraged to apply regardless of field.
*	Submit the complete application packet to TCALL by the deadline.
Application can be downloaded from TCALL website
(http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/bbfellows/08-09announce.html). Complete
application packet includes:

	*	cover letter
	*	signed cover sheet form
	*	curriculum vitae
	*	letter of recommendation (preferably from a professor)
	*	3-4 page proposal describing your background and
interest in family literacy and other qualifications that you deem
relevant to this fellowship
	*	budgetary plans for the fellowship funds

*	Students who do not have substantial grant resources and are not
employed by TCALL will be given priority. Please describe in your cover
letter any financial aid or other funding that you anticipate receiving
for the 2009-2010 academic year.

 

 

DEADLINE:

Complete applications are due to TCALL 

by 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time

on Friday, February 20, 2009. 

 

 

Finalists will be interviewed the week of March 17-20, preferably
face-to-face 

or by telephone conference call if necessary.

 

 

Fellowship applicants will be notified of selection decisions by March
25, 2009.

 

 

For further information, please contact Harriet Vardiman Smith, TCALL
Director by phone (979-862-6519) or e-mail (hsmith at tamu.edu
<mailto:hsmith at tamu.edu> ).

 

 

---------------------------------------------

Harriet Vardiman Smith, Director 
Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning
<http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/> 
Texas A&M University
hsmith at tamu.edu
College Station, Texas

1-800-441-READ (7323)
Welcome to Aggieland

 

This is the duty of our generation as we enter the twenty-first century
- solidarity with the weak, the persecuted, the lonely, the sick, and
those in despair. It is expressed by the desire to give a noble and
humanizing meaning to a community in which all members will define
themselves not by their own identity but by that of others.
- Elie Wiesel (writer/political activist)

 

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