Renowned educator named first Thorn Chair in Literacy
Nipissing University News Release ************************* Nipissing University is proud to announce that Dr. David Booth, an internationally renowned educator and author and one of the world’s leading experts on literacy, will hold the first Dr.
Nipissing University is proud to announce that Dr. David Booth, an internationally renowned educator and author and one of the world’s leading experts on literacy, will hold the first Dr. Elizabeth Thorn Chair in Literacy.
For more than 40 years, Booth has been involved in education, as a classroom teacher, consultant, professor, researcher, speaker and author. He has authored many teacher reference books and textbooks in all areas of curriculum development and has written several guidelines in literacy and in the arts for the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat. Booth received an honorary Doctor of Education from Nipissing University in 2008 and is the recipient of several awards in Canada and the United States for his classroom teaching, contributions to language and literacy, the arts in education, and his picture books for young people.
As chairholder, Booth will work collaboratively with language arts professors in Nipissing’s faculty of education to create an international centre of research excellence in literacy. The centre will connect with school districts throughout Ontario to promote and assist in the teaching of literacy. Booth will also concentrate some of his work studying literacy issues among boys in school. Bachelor of Education students at Nipissing will benefit directly from Booth’s knowledge and expertise as he will be providing resources and events aimed at them becoming better literacy educators.
“Being the recipient of the first Dr. Elizabeth Thorn Chair in Literacy is a big honour for me, and a big responsibility,” said Booth. “Dr. Thorn and I first met in the 60s and she was a star academic then. We worked together for the next forty years. She was a mentor and a leader and there was nobody better in the field of literacy. I believe strongly in the potential for this Chair and I’m excited about the opportunity to contribute to its development within the university and education community.”
“The University is absolutely thrilled to welcome Dr. Booth as the recipient of the Dr. Elizabeth Thorn Chair in Literacy. He is at the absolute pinnacle of research in childhood literacy education, we simply could not welcome a better qualified individual,” said Dr. Peter Ricketts, vice-president academic and research at Nipissing University. “This appointment will immediately benefit our faculty and students and will create a solid foundation on which to build for future recipients of the Thorn Chair.”
As part of the celebrations for the 100 year anniversary of the North Bay Normal School in 2009, Booth will be the guest speaker at the upcoming celebrating a century dinner on January 31, 2009.
Dr. Elizabeth Thorn was a founding member of the Nipissing University Faculty of Education who dedicated her life to the promotion of literacy and inspired educators around the world with her wisdom, passion and commitment to the subject.
She passed away in 2002. The Dr. Elizabeth Thorn Chair in Literacy was created in 2002. It was made possible thanks to a planned gift made to Nipissing University through Dr. Thorn’s estate, illuminating how much Nipissing University and education meant to Dr. Thorn.
