Stuart Greene, associate dean for undergraduate studies in the College of Arts and Letters and associate professor in the Department of English, will be honored with the 2010 Rodney F. Ganey, Ph.D., Faculty Community-Based Research Award at an award ceremony set for April 7, 2010. The Center for Social Concerns award recognizes his latest project, No Parent Left Behind (NPLB), a parent-centered research initiative that springs both from Greene’s theoretical work in literacy learning and his many years of community-based research in South Bend’s schools.
“Stuart’s commitment to research and service in education is truly admirable,” says John McGreevy, I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of the College of Arts and Letters. “I am particularly pleased to see his work recognized for the positive impact it has had on both our community and our students.
“What he’s accomplished through the NPLB initiative is a great example of Notre Dame’s commitment to conducting research, providing a vibrant undergraduate education, and engaging in and with the world.”
Research With Local Impact
The Ganey Award recognizes faculty research that engages Notre Dame students in collaborations that affect real community issues in South Bend.
It was a conversation with school principals about the need for more parental involvement that started Greene on his two-year study that connected students from the College’s Education, Schooling, and Society minor with parents in local schools. Based on interviews, focus groups, and surveys, Greene and his students “began to challenge prevailing models of parental involvement for minority and low-income parents,” he says.
“The typical observation about low-income parents is that they just don’t get involved in their children’s learning. What we’re finding is that they’re actually doing a lot—it’s just not as visible as it could or should be,” he says. “Our work is helping these parents tell their own stories, opening the way for them to make teachers and administrators aware of their strengths—and their needs.”
That work also spurred the next phase of the project, providing customized resources to support local parents in their efforts to help their children excel in reading and writing, the achievement for which the 2010 award has been bestowed.
This award carries with it a cash prize of $5,000 that is funded by Rodney Ganey, founder of Press, Ganey Associates, as a part of the community-based research initiative facilitated by Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns.
After five years of service as associate dean for undergraduate studies, Greene will step down from that position at the end of June 2010 and will devote more time to NPLB as it makes the transition from a research project to a not-for-profit organization.
He currently co-directs NPLB and co-authors his research with Joyce Long, who teaches community-based research in ESS. Their work together will appear in a book Greene has co-edited, Connecting Home and School: Complexities, Concerns, and Considerations in Fostering Parent Involvement and Family Literacy, which will be published by Teachers College Press in fall 2010.
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- Making Race Visible: Literacy Research for Cultural Understanding, edited by Stuart Greene and Dawn Abt-Perkins and winner of the National Council of Teachers of English Richard A. Meade Award for Research in English Education
