Professor of Teacher Education, Reading Program Director at CSU Long Beach Named Vice President of International Reading Association

Mary Ellen Vogt, professor of teacher education and director of the graduate reading programs at California State University, Long Beach, has been named vice president and will eventually serve as president of the International Reading Association (IRA), a worldwide professional organization whose motto is "We teach the world to read."

The IRA is a professional membership organization dedicated to promoting high levels of literacy, reading and communication by continually advancing the quality of instruction worldwide. Members include classroom teachers, reading specialists, administrators, supervisors, university faculty, researchers, psychologists, librarians, media specialists and parents. With members and affiliates in 99 countries, the IRA network extends to more than 350,000 people around the world.

Elected to a three-year term, Vogt will serve as vice president for the group during the 2002-2003 academic year, move up to the president-elect post in 2003-2004, and finally serve as president of the IRA in 2004-2005.

"This is a great honor," Vogt said of her appointment. "It is a wonderful opportunity, especially with President Bush's Reading First Program, which was just recently signed into legislation, and California's Reading by Nine Initiative. It is an interesting and challenging time to be a leader in the area of literacy and reading."

A faculty member at Cal State Long Beach since 1989, Vogt will be installed as vice president of the IRA on May 2 at the organization's 47th annual convention in San Francisco.

Vogt's selection is just the latest in a long line of service to the IRA, which has 1,200 councils in the United States, including 59 in California. She served as president of the Stanislaus County Reading Council in the 1970s while she was working on her master's degree. In 1989-90, she served as president of the California Reading Association, and from 1993-96, she served on the executive board of the IRA.

Vogt earned her bachelor's degree in English and her teaching credential at Colorado State University, a master's degree in curriculum instruction with a specialization in reading at Cal State Stanislaus, and an Ed.D. in language and literacy at the University of California at Berkeley.