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Vivian Gadsden
William T. Carter Professor in Child Development and
Education
Director, National Center on Fathers and Families (NCOFF)
Associate Director, National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL)
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Education
1978: B.A. Psychology and English, Fisk University
1988: Ed.D. Educational Psychology, The University of Michigan
Areas of
Expertise
Literacy & at-risk youth
Fathers and families
Intergenerational learning
Parental engagement
Professional Biography
Dr. Gadsden began her career
teaching developmental English, reading, and educational psychology at
Oakland
and
Wayne
State
Universities in
Michigan.
From 1983 to 1985, she was a research analyst at Policy Studies Associates in
Washington,
D.C. In 1988, Dr. Gadsden joined Penn GSE’s
Literacy
Research
Center, where she became associate
director in 1989. A former Spencer Foundation/National Academy of Education
postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Gadsden served as associate director in the
National
Center on Adult Literacy for six
years. In 1994, she became the director of the newly founded
National
Center on Fathers and Families, an
interdisciplinary policy research center focused on child and family
well-being. She also served as Education Graduate Group Chair from 1996 to
2004. In 2006, she was named the William T. Carter Professor in Child
Development and Education.
She is an active member of the
American Educational Research Association, serving as vice president of
Division G, Social Contexts of Education from 2003 to 2006; the Society for
Research in Child Development, serving as co-executive officer of the Black
Caucus and program co-chair for the 2009 biennial meeting; the National Reading
Conference; and the International Reading Association. She serves on the
advisory boards of the Philadelphia United Way School Readiness Initiative and
the
Goodling
Center
for Family Literacy and has served on Congressionally mandated review and
advisory panels, including those of the Reading Excellence Program,
Comprehensive School Reform, and the National Academy of Sciences. She also
serves or has served on editorial boards of the Journal of Reading, Journal
of Reading Behavior, Fathering,
and the National Head Start Association’s Dialog.
Research Interests and Current Projects
Dr.
Gadsden’s
research interests focus on cultural and social factors affecting learning and
literacy across the life-course and within families, particularly those at the
greatest risk for academic and social vulnerability. Her writing focuses on
intergenerational learning, particularly on the relationships between literacy
in families and issues of culture, race, gender, and poverty in diverse
learning contexts. Her research studies examine the intergenerational and
cross-cultural nature of learning, literacy, and identity within families and
the relationship between family members’ beliefs and practices around learning,
educational access, and educational persistence. Her conceptual framework,
family cultures, focuses on the interconnectedness among families’ political,
cultural, and social histories and racialized identities.
Her current projects include a
longitudinal study on intergenerational learning within African-American and
Latino families; a study of parent engagement in children’s early literacy; a
study with young fathers in urban settings; a study on literacy, education, and
health; a policy study on incarcerated parents and their families; and a study
of children of incarcerated parents. She is participating in an NICHD-funded
project (Dr. John Fantuzzo, principal investigator) on the development of an
integrated Head Start curriculum. She has served as principal investigator
or co-investigator on grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Ford
Foundation, Mott Foundation, Spencer Foundation, National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development, and National Institutes for Health. She works
with Penn colleagues in the medical school and the Provost’s Interdisciplinary
Seminar on Health Disparities on health and educational disparities.
Dr. Gadsden will be on leave for
the 2007-08 academic year.
Courses Taught
EDUC 723: Multicultural Issues in Education
EDUC 635: Assessing Language and Learning Differences
EDUC 545: Families, Literacy, and Culture
EDUC 801: Learners and Learning
Selected Publications
Gadsden,
V. L. & J.P. Genty. (Eds.). (Forthcoming). Incarcerated parents and their children. New York: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
Gadsden, V. L. (2006). The adult learner in family literacy:
Role, context, and gender. In A. Belzer & H. Beder (Eds.), Defining and Improving Quality in Adult
Basic Education: Issues and Challenges.
Mahwah,
NJ:
Lawrence
Erlbaum
Gadsden, V. L. (2004). Family
literacy and culture. In B. H. Wasik (Ed.), Handbook of family literacy. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gadsden, V. L., Wortham, S.E.F.,
& Turner, H. M. (2004). Situated identities of young, African American
fathers: Perspectives on home, street, and the system. Family Court Review.
Gadsden, V. L. (Ed.). (2003). Heading home: Offender reintegration into
the family—What works. Lanham, MD: American Correctional Association.
Gadsden, V. L., Fagan, J., Ray, A.,
& Davis, J. (2003). Fathering indicators for practice and evaluation: The
Fathering Indicators Framework. In R. Day & M. E. Lamb (Eds.), Measuring father involvement in diverse
settings. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gadsden, V. L. (2003). Expanding
the concept of “family” in family literacy: Integrating a focus on fathers. In
A. DeBruin-Parecki, & B. Krol-Sinclair. Family
literacy: From theory to practice. Newark, DE: International Reading
Association.
Gadsden,
V., & Ray, A. (2002). Engaging fathers: Issues and considerations for early
childhood educators. Young Children, 57(6), 32-42.
Gadsden, V. L. (1999).
Intergenerational literacy within families. In M. Kamil, R. Tierney, & R.
Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research.
New York: Longman.
Gadsden, V. L. (1998). Black families
within intergenerational and cultural perspective. In M. L. Lamb (Ed.), Nontraditional and traditionally
understudied families: Parenting and
child development. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gadsden,
V. L. & D. A. Wagner. (Eds.). (1995). Literacy
among African American youth: Issues in learning,
teaching, and schooling.
Cresskill,
NJ:
Hampton Press.
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