Panayiota (Pani) Kendeou, Guy Bond Chair in Reading and professor in the Department of Educational Psychology’s psychological foundations of education program, has been awarded the Distinguished McKnight University Professorship, which recognizes outstanding faculty members who have recently achieved full professor status. Kendeou’s cutting-edge research on the cognitive processes of reading comprehension advances our understanding of reading and transforms reading instruction in K-12 schools.
As a Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Kendeou will carry the title throughout her University career. She is one of seven University professors receiving the award in 2021. Department of Educational Psychology Professor and CEHD Associate Dean for Research Frank Symons earned the award previously.
Through this award, Kendeou is being recognized not only for her development of models that explain how students learn to read and read to learn but also for her use of these models to design innovative, educational technologies that are used at scale. The significance of her approach is in the integration of scientific advancements and technological innovations that improve reading and learning.
“Dr. Kendeou exemplifies scholarship at a research university with a land-grant mission,” said Department Chair Kristen McMaster, “She is conducting theoretically sound, methodologically rigorous research that is advancing current knowledge, and she is doing so in ways that are timely, relevant, and contribute directly to the education and learning of individuals in our schools and communities.”
Kendeou received the CEHD Research Excellence Award from the University of Minnesota in 2020, the Early Career Impact Award from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences (FABBS) Foundation in 2015, the Tom Trabasso Young Investigator Award from the Society for Text & Discourse in 2012, and the Research in Literacy Award from the UK Literacy Association in 2009. She was elected fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2019 and the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 2020.
