Maryanne Wolf, creator of the nationally renowned RAVE-O reading intervention program, and one of the leading figures in changing how we think about dyslexia and neuroscience, will speak at Eastern Kentucky University on Thursday, March 1.
Her lecture, titled “Literacy in the Digital Age: Transformations of the Reading Brain,” is free and open to the public and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in O’Donnell Hall of the Whitlock Building. Wolf’s remarks are part of the 2017-18 Chautauqua lecture series exploring transformations.
Wolf received her doctoral degree in human development from Harvard University, where she began her work on the neurological underpinning of reading, language and dyslexia. A recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship for international studies, Wolf spent several months in Germany, researching dyslexia in German-speaking children. Much of Wolf’s research included the relatively new conceptualization of dyslexia called the Double-Deficit Hypothesis. Her research in this area was the subject of a recent special issue of the Journal of Learning Disabilities.
Wolf focuses most of her research on reading interventions, and applying current research on the reading brain circuit to the design of the digital learning experience. She currently serves a Fellow in the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, with a goal of using digital learning and neuro-cognitive research to combat worldwide illiteracy in children.
In addition to working as John DiBiaggio Professor of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University, Wolf is the author of dozens of articles on dyslexia, linguistics and psychology, as well as several books. Her most popular book, “Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain,” was published in 2008 and has since been translated into 13 languages.
The Wolf lecture will be sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs; the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences; the Department of English and Theatre; and the Department of Psychology.
For more information about the Chautauqua lecture series, visit www.chautauqua.eku.edu or contact Chautauqua Lecture Coordinator Erik Liddell at erik.liddell@eku.edu.