President | vpaliteracyassoc@gmail.com

Wes Gordon is a reader. In 1st grade, his parents selected his first Scholastic Book Fair book—Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret. Now, he chooses his own books. Appropriate books.

When he is not reading, he works with his local council, the Plains Literacy Council in East Alabama. He is a Past President of his local council and writes their monthly newsletters, Plain Talk. In his day job, he serves the teachers, students and families of Auburn City Schools as Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum. In that role, he gets to select books for students and teachers. He has never recommended Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret. Not even one time.

ILA State Coordinator | ljohnson15@una.edu

Dr. Lorie Johnson is the Director of Continuous Improvement and Accreditation for the University of North Alabama's College of Education and Human Sciences. She holds a Ph.D in Reading Education from Auburn University along with a master's degree in Reading Education, a TESOL/ESOL certificate and bachelor's degrees in Early Childhood Education and Corporate Journalism. She is a certified reading specialist.

Dr. Johnson has served as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, instructional coach and assistant professor. Her research includes vocabulary acquisition, irregular word reading, diverse literature in the trauma-informed classroom and employer and completer satisfaction of educator preparation. She is a President Emerita of the Alabama Literacy Association and former president of Plains Reading Council, Birmingham Area Reading Council and Northwest Alabama Reading Council.

Secretary | lkirklan@montevallo.edu

Dr. Lynn Kirkland is Professor Emerita from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she served as a reading/literacy faculty member, Chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, and Interim Dean of the School of Education. After retiring from UAB, she continues to teach literacy courses for preservice teachers at the University of Montevallo.

While at UAB, Dr. Kirkland directed a summer program for 15 years that served children from diverse settings who were experiencing reading difficulties. She also created the Maryann Manning Family Literacy Center at UAB. Dr. Kirkland continues to serve on several boards for organizations that promote literacy, including the Alabama Literacy Association.

Dr. Kirkland taught in the classroom for 10 years while working on her Masters and Educational Specialist degrees. She received her Ed.D. in Curriculum from the University of Alabama and reading specialist post-doctoral certification from UAB. Her research interests include literacy education, autonomy in education, and constructivist education. She is currently writing resource books for practitioners on relevant literacy topics for a publishing company.

District Director