TCALL Hosts 20th Anniversary Reception

The Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL) hosted a reception from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1, to combine the celebration of the center’s 20th anniversary and its annual welcome for new fellowship recipients. At the reception, six new Barbara Bush and TCALL Fellows for 2009-2010 were introduced. Former TCALL Directors Dr. Don F. Seaman and Dr. Dominique T. Chlup, along with representatives of Texas LEARNS attended.

The Board of Regents created TCALL in 1989 for the purpose of helping to reduce adult illiteracy in Texas. As the state’s only adult literacy resource center, TCALL’s purpose has evolved into responding to the needs of those who provide literacy services to adult and family literacy learners. “TCALL has grown from one funded project of under $100,000 and a tiny staff in the first year, to currently four funded projects totaling over $1.5 million per year, a staff of 17 and six doctoral fellows,” said Harriet Vardiman Smith, TCALL director. The center played a key role in the development and pilot testing of the Texas Adult Education Content Standards and Benchmarks for Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education and ESL, which were adopted statewide in 2007. The reception was held at the center’s location on the Riverside campus.

L-R: Dr. Mary Alfred welcomed 2009-2010 Barbara Bush Fellows Jeeyoung Shin,
Priya Darshini Kurup, Rose Anna Santos, and Tiffany Lipsett

L-R: Dr. Mary Alfred welcomed 2009-2010 TCALL Fellows Rhonda Goolsby & Merlissa Alfred