Faculty Profile: Erin Kessel

Name: Erin Kessel

Title & department: Senior Teaching Instructor and Margaret Blount Harvey Literacy Institute Coordinator, Department of Literacy Studies and Special Education

What does your new role as MBHLI coordinator involve, and what are you most looking forward to in the position?

I see this role as an opportunity to expand our reach to preservice and in-service teachers and provide meaningful professional development in literacy education. I am especially looking forward to creating a more centralized focus on sharing research-based literacy instructional strategies and building lasting partnerships with school districts across eastern North Carolina.

What are some of your goals for your first year in this role?

One of my primary goals for my first year in this role is to expand our outreach across eastern North Carolina by building meaningful partnerships with additional school districts and educators. I also hope to develop sustainable professional learning opportunities that respond to the needs of K–12 educators, including continuing the ECU Literacy Summit, launching a Book Club focused on literacy professional development and collaboration for local teachers, and supporting the Foundations of Reading preparation for both preservice and in-service educators. For our preservice educators, I hope to expand opportunities for professional growth and engagement with the broader literacy community, including our Study Away opportunity to attend the NCRA Annual Reading Conference. Through these efforts, I hope to build strong partnerships and lay the foundation for expanded literacy outreach through the future East Carolina College of Education Literacy Center.

What are you hoping to bring to the role based on your experience at ECU?

As a faculty member within the Literacy Studies of College of Education, I have experience developing sustainable professional development offerings through the Margaret Blount Harvey Literacy Institute. Based on my experience in creating established PD offerings that are on going, I would like to use this role and my experience to expand our reach to additional communities within the Latham Clinical Network and ensure ALL areas of eastern North Carolina are given the opportunities to receive literacy based professional development.

What excites you most about the opportunity to serve in this new capacity?

What excites me most is the opportunity to bring people and resources together to create something that has a lasting impact on literacy education across eastern North Carolina. Through partnerships and collaborations of other entities within East Carolina University, we aim to develop the East Carolina College of Education Literacy Center made possible through the generous support of the Margaret Blount Harvey Literacy Institute.

What’s something fun or unique you’d like people to know about you?

People are my passion! I love finding ways to support literacy educators across North Carolina because I believe that when we invest in educators, we help grow the next generation of lifelong readers and literacy lovers.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I enjoy spending time on our family farm where I find peace with my family as well as our dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, chickens, and ducks.