Doctoral Programs in Literacy Studies

(L to r). Literacy Studies doctoral students Cory Doyle, Jaimie Kanter, and Natasha Nurse.

The 2011-12 doctoral graduates in Literacy Studies (l to r): Dr. Ceil Candreva, Ed.D., Dr. Phillip Cicione, Ed.D., Dr. Bonnie Granat, Ph.D., Dr. Erica Pecorale, Ed.D., and Dr. Nathalie Lilavois, Ed.D.. Not pictured, Dr. Aiko Miyatake, Ph.D..

At the 28th Annual Ethnography in Education Research Conference at the University of Pennsylvania. (L to r) Erica Pecorale(Hofstra, '12), Dr. Denny Taylor, Denise Yee-Vignola, Dr. Bobbi Kabuto (Hofstra,'06), Dave Schultz, and Louise Shaw.

These graduate programs and courses are offered by the Long Island, New York campus of Hofstra University.

The Literacy Studies program offers two doctoral degrees: Doctor of Education in Literacy Studies (Ed.D.) and Doctor of Philosophy in Literacy Studies (Ph.D.).

These degree programs are designed for literacy, language, and English educators, administrators, or researchers who work in school, college, university, or community settings. The programs support students as teachers, teacher-educators, literacy leaders, literacy specialists, and future scholars by providing advanced coursework in theory, practice,  and research.  Our goal is that students in the program, as well as the faculty, strive to improve the literacy experiences of all leaners by means of research, advocacy, and distinguished teaching.

The Doctoral Learning Experience

Upon entering the program, students develop a plan of study, under advisement, to focus coursework on their research and teaching interests.  The coursework and research projects students pursue have direct relevance to their professional lives.

The doctoral Core Courses in Literacy Studies are designed to give doctoral students and faculty the opportunity to engage in intellectual discussions and, by so doing, to create a dynamic and responsive context for building knowledge about the epistemological, philosophical, theoretical and pedagogical questions that frame the field.   

Doctoral students also pursue advanced coursework in qualitative and quantitative research methods in order to ensure their facility for posing, and pursuing, complex and meaningful questions about literacy learning, teaching, and use, as well as to prepare them to serve the field as discerning readers and reviewers of research literature.

Doctoral Legacy

Originally known as the Reading Department, the Literacy Studies Program has been conferring doctoral degrees since 1970.  It is the only doctoral program in Literacy in Nassau or Suffolk counties, and was the first doctoral program in Literacy/Reading on Long Island.

Graduates of Hofstra’s Literacy Studies doctoral programs have a deep reach into literacy education in New York, and especially on Long Island.  At the post-secondary level, Literacy Studies graduates are employed in teacher preparation programs throughout Long Island, New York City, and upstate New York.  Several graduates are in school or district leadership positions on Long Island, and many graduates remain highly educated and committed classroom teachers in Long Island and New York City schools.