International Reading Association Honors Pitt Education Professor

PITTSBURGH-Rita M. Bean, professor emeritus in the University of Pittsburgh School of Education's Department of Instruction and Learning, has received the International Reading Association (IRA) Special Service Award for distinguished service to the association.

Bean, who joined the University in 1971, also has been inducted in the Reading Hall of Fame this year. Established in 1973, the Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have contributed to further improvement in reading instruction.

An IRA member for more than 40 years, Bean was a member of the board of directors of the IRA from 2002 to 2006. During that time, she served as a member of the Research on Teacher Education Committee.

Bean also chaired the Commission on the Role of the Reading Specialist, which conducted a national study on the role of reading specialists that resulted in an IRA position statement in 2000. She served as president of the Disabled Readers' Special Interest Group at the national and state levels and president of the Pennsylvania Reading Teacher Educators, a state-level special interest group.

Among her many honors are a 2004 Celebrate Literacy Award from the Keystone State Reading Association, a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2004 from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, the Jean Winsand Distinguished Woman in Education Award in 2004, the Pitt Chancellor's Distinguished Service Award in 2002, the Herr Award in 2000 from the College Reading Association, and the Pitt Chancellor's Distinguished Teacher Award in 1985.

Currently, Bean is a member of the advisory board of the Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse, supported by IRA and the National Council of Teachers of English. She also serves as chair of the Standards 2010 Committee. Bean has made many presentations at regional, national, and international meetings and has published in IRA journals and contributed to monographs published by IRA.

She earned the BS degree in education at Edinboro State College in 1963 and the MEd and PhD degrees in education at Pitt in 1966 and 1974, respectively.

The IRA is a community of reading professionals with more than 80,000 members in nearly 100 countries, dedicated to promoting higher achievement levels in literacy, reading, and communication worldwide. A network of 1,250 councils and more than 40 national affiliates forms IRA's working foundation. For more information on IRA visit www.reading.org.

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7/21/09/tmw