Sylvia Vardell, Ph.D.

Professor
School of Library and Information Studies

Professional Preparation

Ph.D., 1983, University of Minnesota
Curriculum and Instruction Children’s Literature/Language Arts

B.S., 1976, University of Texas
Elementary Education

Professional Experience

• Associate Professor, University of Texas at Arlington, School of Education
• Assistant Professor, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, College of Education
• Associate Professor and Fulbright Scholar, University of Zimbabwe
• Assistant Professor, University of Houston-Victoria, Division of Education

Teaching

• At Master’s level: LS 5603 Literature for Children and Young Adults, LS 5613 Advanced Literature for Children, LS 5623 Advanced Literature for Young Adults, LS 5653 Multicultural Children’s Literature, LS 5663 Poetry for Children
• At Doctoral level: LS 6643 Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults, LS 6633 Materials and Services for the Very Young Child, LS 6623 History of Children’s Literature
• Advised an average of 100 MLS students each semester
• Texas Woman’s University, College of Professional Education, Teacher of the Year Award, 2003

Scholarship

• Dr. Vardell has authored or co-authored more than seventy published articles and has contributed chapters to or has authored more than twenty-five books including:
• Vardell, S.M. (2006). Poetry aloud here!: Sharing poetry with children in the library. American Library Association.
• Vardell, S.M. (2007). Poetry people: A practical guide to children’s poets. Libraries Unlimited.
• Vardell, S.M. (2008). Children’s literature in action: A librarian’s guide. Libraries Unlimited.
• Vardell is the regular poetry columnist for Book Links magazine published by the American Library Association and maintains a regular professional blog on sharing poetry with young people, PoetryforChildren http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/
• Received more than $150,000 in federal and other grants

Service 

• Member, Sibert Award for Informational Books, American Library Association
• Co-editor, Bookbird, The Journal of International Children’s Literature
• Member, ALSC/YALSA Odyssey Award for Outstanding Audiobooks
• President, United States Board on Books for Young People
• Co-Chair, National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry for Children Award
• Member, Texas Library Association, Dia de los Ninos/Dia de los Libros Task Force
• Chair, Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
• Dr. Vardell has also made more than one hundred presentations at the regional and national level.