Doctoral Students Selected As TCALL Fellows

8/24/06

By Jenna Smith

Stacy Perry, an adult education doctoral candidate and senior principal of human resources at Jefferson Wells International in Dallas, and Corrine Wickens, a doctoral student in the teaching, learning and culture department, were selected as Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL) research fellows for the 2006-2007 academic year.

Dominique Chlup, director of TCALL, said that the pool of qualified candidates was very competitive this year. “All of our candidates were impressive in several ways, however, we feel we ended up with two wonderful choices,” Chlup said.

Chlup added that committee members were very impressed with Perry ’s research interest in learning differences and the adult learner population. In her research proposal, Perry addressed the prospect of studying the related link between LDs (learning disabilities/differences) and the adult prison population in order to develop educational programming for this particular population.

Committee members were particularly impressed with Wickens’ interest in family literacy and her strong desire to study African American fathers and their connections to literacy, schooling and their children. She already has an extensive track record of publications and conference presentations in the field of adult education.

In its second year, the TCALL Research Fellows provides monetary support and guidance to doctoral students with an interest in adult learning and literacy. A major benefit of the program is that students don’t have to reside on the College Station campus to take advantage of the research and networking opportunities.