Janice F. Almasi, Ph.D. is the Carol Lee Robertson Endowed Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Kentucky. She earned her B.S. in Education from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and began her career as an elementary teacher and literacy specialist in Maryland.  She earned her M.Ed. and Ph.D. at the University of Maryland and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She received the International Literacy Association's Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award and the Literacy Research Association's Outstanding Student Research Award. Her early research examined the contexts in which children make sense of text, particularly in peer discussion environments. More recently her research has focused on comprehension and the strategic processing that occurs while children read. She is currently the Co-PI on a grant funded by the Institute of Education Sciences examining the efficacy of a narrative comprehension intervention for elementary students with attention issues who have difficulty meeting school standards for comprehension. She has published several books including Teaching Strategic Processes in Reading. She has been the PI or Co-PI on federal research grants totaling $8,814,376 and her research has appeared in journals including: Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Educational Psychology, Journal of Educational Research, Journal of Literacy Research, Elementary School Journal, Educational Psychologist, and Reading Psychology. She was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Literacy Association and the Literacy Research Association and served as President of LRA in 2015. In 2020, she was elected as a member of the Reading Hall of Fame.

Janice Almasi's research has examined the contexts in which children make sense of text, particularly in peer discussion environments. More recently her research has focused on comprehension and the strategic processing that occurs while children read. 

EDC 767: Dissertation Residency Credit

EDC 740: Practicum in Teaching Reading and Related Language Arts

EDC 642: Research and Theory in Literacy Education

EDC 626: Issues in Literacy: Comprehension Instruction

EDC 621:  Language and Literacy Development

EDC 620: Design and Implementation of Reading Instruction

EDC 619: Assessment of Reading Growth and Development

EDC 541: Reading and Understanding Educational Research

Doctoral Committee Chair (Degrees Conferred):

• Lisa Bosley, Ed.D. (2009, May). “Preparing Adult Education Students for College Reading.” Literacy Education, University of Kentucky (defended dissertation, February, 2009).
• Patricia Birch Callaway, Ed.D. (2008, May). “Don’t You Fall: Resilient and Academically Successful African American’s Literacy and Family Involvement Practices.” Literacy Education, University of Kentucky (defended dissertation, April, 2008).
• Judith Conant-Steinbach, Ed.D. (2008, May). “The Effect of Metacognitive Strategy Instruction on Writing.” Literacy Education, University of Kentucky (defended dissertation, December, 2007).
• Kimberly Creech, Ed.D. (2014, May). “A Phenomenological Exploration of Teacher Experiences in Creating and Teaching a Senior Year English Transition Course.” Literacy Education, University of Kentucky (defended dissertation April, 2014).
• Keli A. Garas, Ph.D. (2005, May). “High-Achieving Readers in a Low-Performing School.” Literacy Education, State University of New York at Buffalo.
• *Lindsay P. Grow, Ed.D. (2011, September). “The Identity Development of Preservice Teachers of Literacy in Field Experiences Considering their Prior Knowledge.” Literacy Education, University of Kentucky (defended dissertation July, 2011). *Dr. Grow was a finalist for the International Reading Association’s Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award in 2013

• Melinda Harmon, Ed.D. (2013, May). “A Sense of Urgency: Transforming the Literate Identities of Students who Struggle with Learning to Read.”  Literacy Education, University of Kentucky (defended dissertation April, 2013).
• Susan J. Hart, Ed.D. (2012, May). “Literacygrows.org Cultivating an Online Platform for Teaching Professionals: A Formative Experiment Exploring the Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Appeal of a Co-constructed Online Platform for Professional Development.” Literacy Education, University of Kentucky (defended dissertation April, 2012).
• *Su-ja Kang, Ph.D., (2005, September). “Communication Strategies for Linguistic Problems in Second Language Oral Communication: A Qualitative Examination of 12 Korean University Students.” Second Language Learning, State University of New York at Buffalo. *Dr. Kang was the 2006 recipient of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages-Modern Language Journal’s Birkmaier Award for Doctoral Dissertation Research

• Angela M. Madden, Ed.D. (2010, May). “A Descriptive Study of Literacy Identity Development in an Elementary Writing Workshop.” Literacy Education, University of Kentucky (defended dissertation, November, 2009).
• Teresa Naydan, Ed.D. (2009, May). “The Impact of Research-based Persistence Strategies on Adult Basic Education Students at a Community and Technical College in Central Kentucky.” Literacy Education, University of Kentucky (defended dissertation, December, 2008).
• Amy Barton Smith, Ed.D. (2011, May). “A Case Study of Teacher Responsivity in One-on-One and Small-group Lessons Conducted by Teachers Trained in Reading Recovery.” Literacy Education, University of Kentucky (defended dissertation April, 2011).
• Felicia Cumings Smith, Ed.D. (2014, May). “African American Female Narratives and Identity Development: A Case Study of Language, Literacy, and Identity Development in the Beauty Salon.” Literacy Education, University of Kentucky (defended dissertation, April, 2014).
• Jennifer Wilson-Bridgeman, Ph.D. (1997, May). “Curricular and Communicative Congruence: A Key to Success for Students At-Risk of Reading Failure?” Literacy Education, State University of New York at Buffalo.

Doctoral Committee Chair/Co-Chair (Degrees in Progress):

• Melissa Benson, Education Sciences (Literacy Education), Ph.D. (Chair)
• Kerry Hancock, Education Sciences (Literacy Education), Ph.D. (Chair)
• Keith Lyons, Education Sciences (Literacy Education), Ph.D. (Chair)
• Caitlyn McClure, Education Sciences (Literacy Education), Ph.D. (Chair)
• Jennifer Pusateri, Education Sciences, Ph.D. University of Kentucky (Chair)
• Christa Roney, Education Sciences (Literacy Education), Ph.D. (Chair)
• Elizabeth Smith, Education Sciences (Literacy Education), Ph.D. (Chair)
• Katie Smith, Instruction and Administration (Literacy Education), Ed.D. (Co-chair)
• Brittany Wynn, Instruction and Administration (Literacy Education), Ed.D. (Chair)
• Dongyang Yuan, Education Sciences (Literacy Education), Ph.D. 
• Kristy Cartwright Zak, Instruction and Administration Ed.D. (Literacy Education), (Chair)