Richard Beach, professor of literacy education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, has been elected vice president-elect (to become president in Dec. 2012) by the Literacy Research Association (formerly National Reading Conference). The LRA is the premier research organization for literacy educators and has over 1,000 members internationally. Deborah Dillon, also a professor of literacy education and the Guy Bond Chair in Reading, was president of the National Reading Conference in 2002.