Doctoral Students In Language Arts & Children's Literature
We have a wonderful group of gifted and diverse doctoral students in Language Arts & Children's Literature.
Donna Sabis Burns received her B.A. in Elementary Education and her M.A. in Language and Literacy with a focus on Native Americans and Children’s Literature from the University of Florida. She taught first grade at Charles W. Duval Elementary in Gainesville, Florida and children’s literature at the University of Florida. She is currently writing her dissertation entitled “Truth in the Telling: A Content Analysis of Picture Books featuring Christopher Columbus.” She also works fulltime at the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Indian Education in Washington, D.C. in the Discretionary Grants office. You may contact Donna at Donna.Sabis-Burns@ed.gov
Hakan Dedeoglu received his bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Mustafa Kemal University in Turkey. He taught elementary school and language arts and was a school principal in Turkey. Upon receiving a scholarship from the Turkish government to study abroad, he received his Master’s degree in Elementary Education at the University of Missouri in 2001. His research focuses on multicultural children’s literature, critical multiculturalism and elementary classroom contexts that a foster literature based curriculum. He has worked as a research assistant on grants such as internationalizing children’s literature and a home science reading project. He teaches children’s literature classes at the University of Florida as teaching assistant and adjunct lecturer. The title of his dissertation study is Changes in Attitudes about Diversity of Students in Children's Literature Classes. You may contact Hakan at dedeoglu@ufl.edu
Jiraporn Dhanarattigannon received her B. A. in Secondary Education, majoring English from Srinakharinwirot University, and her MA in Applied Linguistics from Mahidol University, Thailand. She also got her MA in Applied Linguistics at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. She has taught at college level in Thailand for over ten years. The tentative title of her dissertation research is: “A Study of an EFL Writing Classroom at the College Level in Thailand." In her dissertation, she examines how college English writing is taught by a Thai teacher who was trained in the US and how the students respond to the instructor’s teaching approach, investigating the factors affecting the students’ perceptions about writing and writing instruction.
You may contact Jiraporn at jiraporndh2000@yahoo.com.
Jennifer Graff received her B.A. in English Literature with a specialization in Women’s Studies and M.A. in Reading Education from the University of Florida. Her commitment to literacy has resulted in teaching at the elementary and secondary levels in Japan and the U.S. and collaborating with NGOs on literacy projects in Southeast Asia and East Africa. Jennifer has taught Children’s Literature and Reading in the Secondary Schools at UF. She has assisted with research on how to mitigate summer reading loss among economically disadvantaged youth and how to increase global awareness by internationalizing content-area curricula. Jennifer is currently writing her dissertation on pre-adolescent girls’ perceptions and experiences of reading and readers through their self-selected reading material.
You may contact Jennifer at jgraff@ufl.edu
Ivy Haoyin Hsieh received her B. A. in French Language and Literature from
Chinese Culture University in Taipei, Taiwan and her M. Ed. in TESL from the University of Central Oklahoma. She has taught language arts and children’s literature at UF. Through a social constructionist perspective, Ivy will investigate working-class, low-literate Chinese immigrant families living in a highly literate, rural college town, in her dissertation. Focusing on their literacy practices within and out of family, her dissertation aims to share the stories of these families focusing on their "funds of knowledge," which, as Moll et al (1992) define to be historical and cultural knowledge and skills for family functioning and well-being. You may contact Ivy at ivyhsieh@ufl.edu
Patricia Jacobs received a B.A. in French Literature from SUNY Albany and
A M.A. in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
She taught English as a Second Language in Tokyo, Japan and New York City.
She taught fifth and seventh grade English and Social Studies in New York City,
and tenth grade English at Columbia High School in Lake City, FL. Her research interests include how writing is taught to accommodate all learners and how to coach and mentor student teachers to become effective writing instructors.
You may contact Patricia at patrjac@bellsouth.net
Jenn Manak received her B.A. in Elementary Education with a minor in Anthropology and her M.A. in Reading from the University of Florida. She has taught primary and intermediate grades at Hidden Oak Elementary School in Gainesville, Florida since 2000. While teaching at Hidden Oak, she conducted professional development as well as received grants to support writing instruction and integrate children’s literature into the content areas. Jennifer taught children’s literature at UF. For her dissertation Jennifer is planning on studying, “The Power of Literature: Integrating Children’s Literature into Writing Instruction”. You may contact Jenn at jacmsm@ufl.edu.
Takako Ueno received her B.A. in English and American Literature from Toyama University and her M.A. in Education, specializing in TESL from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She has taught TOEFL prep and a writing course. The tentative title of her dissertation research is: “A study of Japanese Children's Responses to Picturebooks written in English.” In her dissertation, Takako will examine responses from children who are not native speakers of English to picture books that are written in English to investigate some of the factors (genres, contents, cultural aspects of the picture books, and settings of reading/sharing sessions) that may elicit more meaningful/personal responses. You may contact Takako at tkk@ufl.edu
Mintzu Wang received her B.A. in Special education with a minor in English from the National Changhua University of Education in Taiwan. She received her M.A. in ESOL/Bilingual education from the University of Florida. Before coming to UF for her graduate degree, she taught English in a high school in central Taiwan for five years.
You may contact Mintzu at mintzu@ufl.edu
Evie Adams Welch received her BA at Florida A & M University in English, her Masters at Virginia State University in American Literature, and a Ph. D. in African Studies at Howard University. She is earning a second doctorate from the School of Teaching and Learning at UF. Evie has held a number of teaching and administrative jobs for Pinellas County Public Schools, Western Illinois University, and Edward Waters College and has taught children’s literature classes at UF. Her doctoral dissertation is titled, “Cognitive Strategies of Underperforming African American Boys in Response to Children’s Literature.” You may contact Evie at eawelch@ufl.edu
