Timothy Shanahan

director, Center for Literacy, U Illinois

Timothy Shanahan is a Professor of Urban Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Director of the UIC Center for Literacy. He has served as Director of Reading for the Chicago Public Schools, and is a former first grade teacher. His research focuses on the relationship of reading and writing, the assessment of reading ability, family literacy, and school improvement. He has published more than 100 articles, chapters, and books on these topics. Professor Shanahan is Vice President of the International Reading Association, and is a member of the Board of Advisors for the National Family Literacy Center. He served on the National Reading Panel, a group convened by the National Institute of Child Health and Development at the request of Congress to determine what research says about reading. The report that resulted became the basis of federal education policy (Reading FIRST). He is chair of the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth and the National Early Literacy Panel. He co-developed Project FLAME, a family literacy program for Latino immigrants that received an Academic Excellence Award from the U.S. Department of Education. His research and service efforts have garnered more than $4 million in funding. Dr. Shanahan received his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Delaware in 1980.