Our Team
Transforming Literacy
The team at the Richard O. Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy (JCCL) is committed to creating dynamic spaces where anyone who comes through our doors can begin to explore their literacy potential -- as a teacher, as a learner, as a reader, as a writer -- and as an agent of change.
JCCL Director
Lori Norton-Meier, PhD
Lori Norton-Meier is the director of the Richard O. Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy. Norton-Meier earned a PhD in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in language, literacy, and culture from the University of Iowa as well as a master's degree in early childhood education. Her research examines the role of play and inquiry in teaching and learning, particularly related to language and literacy practices of teachers, children, youth and family members. She studies the role of play in understanding media literacy, how family inquiry fuels learning in and out of school settings, and argument-based inquiry in teaching and learning particularly related to science. She has multiple publications including 30 journal publications, 20 book chapters and five books, with two of these books focusing on the voices of teachers who describe their process of learning as teacher researchers in their own classrooms.
JCCL Fellows
A JCCL Fellow is selected each year to engage in a research or service project related to transforming narrow views of literacy, assisting the educational community to consider new aspects of literacy teaching and learning.
JCCL Advisory Board
This group of individuals meets twice a year to give advice and guidance to the work of the JCCL. The group represents scholars and educational professionals from Iowa and beyond to provide a wide range of perspectives and expertise to shape future initiatives.
Dr. Yuliya Ardasheva, Language Professor, Washington State University
Dr. Willie Barney, Associate Superintendent, Davenport Schools
Maribelle Betterton, Retired Teacher
Dr. Bradley Carpenter, Associate Professor and Chair of Education, Sul Ross State University
Genya Coffey, Elementary Teacher, Des Moines Public Schools
Dr. Margaret Mary Sulentic Dowell, Endowed Professor, Louisiana State University
Dr. Corey Drake, Senior Director of Professional Learning, The Math Learning Collaborative
Dr. Bettina Fabos, Media Literacy Professor, University of Northern Iowa
Lynn Hockenberry, AEA Literacy Consultant (retired)
Dr. Shuaib Meacham, Literacy Professor, University of Northern Iowa
Dr. Sarah Nelson, Iowa Space Grant Consortium Coordinator, Iowa State University
Dr. Bianca Nightengale-Lee, Florida Atlantic University
Elizabeth Scheetz, Holy Trinity Schools, West Point, IA
Terry Stevens, Waterloo Community Activist, Waterloo, IA
Hannah Thies, Elementary Teacher, Waterloo Community Schools
Dr. Margaret Vaughn, Literacy Professor, Washington State University
Dr. Saba Vlach, Literacy Professor, The University of Iowa
Dr. Ryan Wise, Dean, Drake University
JCCL Literacy Future Think Tank
This group of UNI Scholars gathers once a month to wrestle with the question, “What is literacy future thinking?” and “What research should we take up with a futuristic mind set?” If you would like to join us in these monthly conversations, just send us an email at jccl@uni.edu.
Disa Cornish
Laura Edwards
David Grant
Michael Graziano
Bettina Fabos
Heather Gallivan
Mason Kuhn
Shuaib Meacham
Scott Peters
Sarah Vander Zanden