LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Feb. 7, 2008)—An internationally known education expert who specializes in improving literacy, especially among economically disadvantaged urban schoolchildren, has been appointed to a new endowed chair in the school of education at Bellarmine University.
Robert B. Cooter, Jr., who has been appointed to the Ursuline Endowed Chair of Teacher Education in the Annsley Frazier Thornton School of Education at Bellarmine, will not only serve as a distinguished professor teaching Bellarmine students, but also hopes to partner with the Jefferson County Public School system to develop new reading improvement programs. His programs in Dallas and Memphis have helped hundreds of teachers and principals improve reading proficiency for thousands of inner city schoolchildren.
Dr. Cooter is the author of a best-selling textbook on teaching reading that is used in more than 200 universities nationwide. He is also renowned as editor of The Reading Teacher, the largest education journal in the world, which will now be housed at Bellarmine University.
Bellarmine President Dr. Joseph J. McGowan said Dr. Cooter’s appointment, along with other developments, “helps position Bellarmine as a national model in teacher education,” and advances the school’s Vision 2020, its plan “to become a nationally pre-eminent private university of significant size and stature for this city, commonwealth and region.”
Bellarmine’s School of Education is already one of the only universities in the nation that requires every baccalaureate graduate to earn a dual certification in both special education and regular education. And, Bellarmine was recently awarded a grant by the Kentucky Department of Education to provide principal training to Kentucky’s public school teachers.
“I am delighted that Bellarmine University has attracted a person of Dr. Cooter’s prominence to our school of education as our first Ursuline Endowed Chair in Teacher Education,” said Dr. McGowan. “I am equally proud that his endowed chair honors the Ursuline Sisters because it is Bellarmine’s merger with Ursuline College in 1968 that brought teacher education to our campus.”
Dr. Cooter said that “being named the Ursuline Endowed Chair of Teacher Education is one of the greatest honors of my life. To be placed even in the same breath as the Ursulines, a religious order with a commitment to social justice and community activism, is a privilege. Using their title and their blessings, I will continue my work with those among us who do not have access to literacy. I plan to do this through my teaching, research and service at Bellarmine, the Louisville area and nationwide.”
Dr. Cooter is the author or co-author of more than 60 journal articles and some 19 books, including the best-selling Teaching Children to Read: The Teacher Makes the Difference, a text used in more than 200 universities nationwide. His work in urban school districts in the Memphis and Dallas areas has resulted in both increased literacy for students and accolades such as being named a Texas State Champion for Reading by then-Texas Governor George W. Bush and receiving the Urban Impact Award from the Council of Great City Schools. Dr. Cooter currently directs a federal $16 million “Striving Readers” research project in high-poverty middle schools.
“My work with the (Louisville-area) schools will, I hope, be as fruitful and as rewarding as it has been in Dallas and Memphis,” said Dr. Cooter. “In both of those school districts, I led a team who designed and implemented teacher academies aimed at improving reading instruction that greatly improved student performance through building teacher knowledge and capacity.”
Dr. Cooter doesn’t want to limit his outside work with just public school systems, however. “I also hope that I can assist with literacy improvement in partnership with parochial and private schools – I have done that as well in Memphis. My wife, Kathy, and I have also been active with the local library system in Memphis; this has given me more knowledge about adult literacy needs and how community agencies can serve as partners in literacy improvement efforts. I am anxious to discover ways I might be able to partner with our schools and community groups.”
While the work to achieve full literacy is important to our community efforts, Professor Cooter is convinced that the work begins with educating the educators. “I believe—no, I know—that the key to student success is in the hands of a well educated professional teacher supported by a knowledgeable principal,” he said. At Bellarmine, Dr. Cooter will teach classes both at the baccalaureate and master’s levels.
Dr. Cooter currently holds the title of Distinguished Professor at the University of Memphis and has served previous faculty posts at University of Texas at Arlington, Southern Methodist University, Austin Peay State University and Texas Christian University. He also consults with many state departments of education and school districts around the United States.
Dr. Cindy Gnadinger, dean of Bellarmine’s School of Education, said “Attracting Dr. Cooter to our faculty is a real coup for Bellarmine and this entire region. Most everyone in the field of literacy is familiar with his work, so hopefully we can utilize that expertise and make both Bellarmine and Kentucky synonymous with improving literacy.”
Bellarmine’s Frazier Thornton School of Education currently enrolls 337 students in eight programs of study, four each at the baccalaureate and master’s level. The School is accredited by NCATE (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education) and is recognized throughout the region for producing outstanding teachers, a reputation that was earned through constant innovation and change.