Child development specialist embodies spirit of professorship

Maryanne Wolf has spent years understanding how we learn to read and what happens when that process breaks down. Her scholarship has resulted in new developments in treating dyslexia and has added to the body of knowledge in the neurosciences. © KATHLEEN DOOHER

The chair was created and endowed by the Board of Trustees in 2002 to recognize former President John DiBiaggio’s vision of Tufts, where teaching, scholarship and active citizenship are integrated to define what makes a Tufts education distinctive. The chair is awarded to a member of the Tufts faculty in recognition of exceptional research, teaching, leadership and participation in citizenship, community service and public affairs.

Wolf, who also directs Tufts’ Center for Reading and Language Research, embodies the spirit of the DiBiaggio Chair, Arts & Sciences Dean Robert Sternberg and Rob Hollister, dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, said in announcing the appointment.

Through her research in the cognitive neurosciences and child development at the Center for Reading and Language Research, Wolf uses an understanding of the reading brain to create new methods to assess, tutor and teach reading to children and individuals with reading disabilities. Her scholarship has resulted in new developments in treating dyslexia and has added to the body of knowledge in the neurosciences.

She developed the Tufts Literacy Corps, a large and highly effective community service learning program, and a summer school literacy program in Malden, Mass. She also stewards ongoing applied research projects in the Greater Boston area, an adult literacy intervention in Medford, Mass., and in Pennsylvania, and an after-school literacy program in Phoenix, Ariz., for children who are English language learners.

An event to honor Wolf will be scheduled for spring 2007, when she will present the Dean’s Faculty Forum lecture.