Dr. Sylvia Vardell

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 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
• Advises an average of 50 MLS students each semester
• Has chaired/is chairing 12 dissertations and theses
• Originated and edits Librarians’ Choices, an annual review and selection guide for the latest books for children and young adults
• Texas Woman’s University, College of Professional Education: Teacher of the Year Award, 2003, 2012; Outstanding Academic Mentor/Advisor Award, 2010

Scholarship

Dr. Vardell has authored or co-authored more than eighty published articles and has contributed chapters to or has authored more than twenty-five books including:

• Vardell, S.M. (2012). The poetry Friday anthology. Pomelo Books (with Janet Wong).
• Vardell, S.M. (2012). The poetry teacher’s book of lists. Pomelo Books.
• Vardell, S.M. (2006/2012). 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.
• Dr. 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/.
• Dr. Vardell has edited digital anthologies of poetry for young people with collaborator Janet Wong: PoetryTagtime; p*tag; Gift Tag; The Poetry Friday Anthology. 
• Received more than $150,000 in federal and other grants

Service 

• Member, Wilder Award Committee, Association for Library Service to Children
• Member, Arbuthnot Committee, Association for Library Service to Children
• Member, Sibert Award for Informational Books, American Library Association
• Member, ALSC/YALSA Odyssey Award for Outstanding Audiobooks
• Dr. Vardell served as editor of Bookbird, the journal of the International Board on Books for Young People.
• President, United States Board on Books for Young People
• Co-Chair, National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry for Children Award
• Judge, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award
• 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.