Dr. Lisa Pelkey, an assistant professor of professional education at Northwest Missouri State University, recently was appointed to serve as a member of the Standing Committee on Global Citizenship for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

The National Council of Teachers of English, with 25,000 individual and institutional members worldwide, is the nation’s oldest literacy organization and leads the nation in important decisions and trajectories centered on pre-K–16+ literacy, writing and literature thinking. NCTE is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education.

The Standing Committee on Global Citizenship identifies and addresses issues of broad concern to NCTE members interested in promoting global citizenship and connections across global contexts within the Council and within members’ teaching contexts. The committee also is charged with promoting interest and knowledge of global connections and issues across the Council, promoting discussions of the learning needs of students in schools and colleges from global contexts, encouraging discussions of the teaching of English and world Englishes in global contexts, providing awareness of literacy education in global contexts in to provide a mutual exchange of pedagogical ideas and issues, encouraging the integration of global and international literature and of strategies for intercultural understanding within schools and colleges, and engaging the council in an exploration of the changing needs of literacy teaching and learning in an increasingly global society and as members of a broader global community.

Pelkey’s three-year term ends at the conclusion of the NCTE Annual Convention in November 2023.

“Dr. Pelkey has truly hit the ground running,” Dr. Tim Wall, the dean of the School of Education, said. “She is already deeply involved in vital work to improve English Language Arts teaching. She is using her passion to have positive impacts and influence curriculum to reflect diverse perspectives and experiences, which ties quite closely to the directions Northwest’s educator preparation programs are headed, mirroring the University as well.”

Said Pelkey, “Professionally, the invitation to be on the National Council of Teacher of English's Standing Committee for Global Citizenship provides the opportunity for global outreach, connection with other professionals across the U.S., and to have a voice in the shared mission to improve English Language Arts curriculum and instruction at all levels. I have a passion to improve literacy and being invited to membership on this committee allows and promotes the connection between my professional and personal goals. There is no better way to spend committee time than on a committee that brings a person's professional goals and personal passions together. I feel honored to be a part of this committee, and I look forward to serving NCTE.”

Pelkey joined the Northwest faculty in 2019 and teaches courses related to literacy in elementary school and secondary school, among others. Her academic interests include teacher education and retention, disciplinary literacy, and dyslexia and other reading difficulties.

She earned her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction in literacy from the University of Kansas. She has master’s degrees in education administration from Pittsburg State University and in curriculum and instruction from the University of Kansas; bachelor’s degrees in secondary education and in English from the University of Kansas; and an English to Speakers of Other Languages endorsement from Emporia State University.