UTSA's Misty Sailors receives Early Career Achievement Award for Africa literacy project

UTSA Associate Professor Misty Sailors

By Kris Rodriguez
Public Affairs Specialist

(March 2, 2010)--Misty Sailors, UTSA associate professor of interdisciplinary learning and teaching, recently received the 2009 Early Career Achievement Award from the National Reading Conference for her outstanding work to promote literacy in African countries.

The National Reading Conference is a professional organization centering on research and dissemination of information on literacy. The Early Career Achievement Award is based on a nominee's achievement in research, publication and impact of contributions to the field, service and teaching.

Sailors, who joined UTSA in 2002, led the UTSA College of Education and Human Development's Read Malawi project. The international humanitarian effort with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provides educational materials and teacher training to improve literacy rates of children in Africa. The three-year, $13-million cooperative agreement between UTSA and the Republic of Malawi will provide 120 book titles in both English and Chichewan, the native language of Malawi, to 1,000 of the country's 5,000 public schools.

In 2005, Sailors spearheaded the $5 million Ithuba Writing Project, an educational partnership between COEHD and USAID that provided approximately two million books for children in grades 4-6 in South Africa. USAID provides economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide that supports long-term and equitable economic growth and advances U.S. foreign policy.

"These experiences have been very personally rewarding and have made me a better researcher, a better teacher-educator, a better teacher and a better person," said Sailors. "These opportunities allow us to get better at what we do and fully understand how we fit in, not only as an institution, but also as a people in a globalized economy."

Sailors received a bachelor's degree in elementary education, and master's and doctoral degrees in curriculum and instruction with specialization in language and literacy studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

The UTSA College of Education and Human Development is the leading provider of educators in the San Antonio area and one of the largest in Texas. Ranked third in the United States as producer of teacher-education degrees for Hispanics, the college is responsible for innovative research and grants in professional development, technology enhancement, health, school readiness, and bi-national and bicultural issues.