An interdisciplinary research team, made up of six College of Education doctoral scholars, was awarded the Michael J. Parker Award for Excellence in Adult Literacy awarded by the Literacy Research Association (LRA) at the annual conference in Dec. 2021. Veronica Oguilve, Em Bowen, Wen Wen, Yousra Abourehab, Amanda Bermudez, and Elizabeth Gaxiola were funded by the Jewell L. Lewis endowment in literacy at the University of Arizona for a one-year assistantship focused on community literacy. During that time, the graduate associates worked closely with the CRAFT research collaboration network to conduct ethnographic research about organizations involved in making in the Tucson area. The LRA award is designed to encourage work in adult literacy with a variety of populations, with an emphasis on those engaged in literacy practices embedded in diverse cultural settings. The award-winning paper is titled “Community Literacies: Examining Dimensions of Making as Relationality” and can be downloaded here.
