Dr. Violet Harris
Professor Emerita, Curriculum & Instruction, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Violet J. Harris, Ph.D. is a Professor of Language and Literacy in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education, University of Illinois (1986- currently). She has served as Associate Head, 1997-98 and Department Head, 1998-2003 of the C & I Department and Associate Dean of the College of Education, 2007-2011. She is a University Scholar whose research focuses on language and literacy acquisition and development, literature for youth, critical issues in education, and curriculum materials. Her research has appeared in journals such as Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, Lion and Unicorn, Language Arts, and Reading Research Quarterly. She has been a co-editor of Urban Education, The New Advocate, and AERJ-TLHD.
Harris has served on the board of directors of the Literacy Research Association (NRC at the time of her election), the National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy, and the United States Board on Books for Youth. She has served as chair of the AERA- Spencer Foundation Pre-Dissertation Award Committee and was elected to various committees in the National Council of Teachers of English such as member of the Research Foundation and Elementary Representative at Large. She has provided professional development in school districts across the country and worked as a consultant and/or author for American Girls, Hampton Brown, Scholastic, and Scott Foresman publishing companies.