FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Sixteen undergraduate students and one graduate student have been appointed as charter members of the University of Arkansas Literacy Outreach Corps, a group dedicated to assisting several literacy outreach projects sponsored by the Brown Chair in English Literacy in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

The Literacy Outreach Corps will work on three projects during the fall semester. Several students, led by Allison Harl, graduate student in English, will develop a pilot project for improving the computer literacy of young mothers and the basic reading skills of their preschool children at the Ozark Literacy Council in Fayetteville. A second group, led by Christian Goering, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction and co-director of the corps, will serve as mentors to a service-learning literacy project at Fayetteville High School. A third group, working with David Jolliffe, who holds the Brown Chair in English Literacy and directs the corps, will assist in the development of the Community Literacy Advocacy Project in Augusta, Ark., and the Community Literacy Center at Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock.

During the spring semester, the members of the Literacy Outreach Corps will form the nucleus of the Arkansas Delta oral history project, a Brown Chair initiative that involves students from five Delta high schools - Augusta, Barton/Lexa, McGehee, Pine Bluff and
West Memphis - working in collaboration with University of Arkansas students on oral history projects, stories, essays and videos.

The corps members are Kelly Riley, graduate student in English and curriculum and instruction; Tina Fletcher, senior political science major; Michelle Granrud, senior history major; Celise Weems, senior agricultural business major; Erica Frazier, junior psychology and communication major; Donnelly Hayde, junior English and anthropology major; Cindrina Ivora, junior English major; Danielle Johnson, junior social work major; Hillary Swanton, junior English and anthropology major; Corey Tull, junior secondary education and history major; Estrellita Goss, sophomore English major; Alexandra Kosmitis, sophomore English and business major; Lori Neumeier, sophomore English major; KayTrisha Ruiz, sophomore journalism, advertising and public relations major; Danielle Terrio, sophomore communication disorders major; Lauren Wilson, sophomore journalism, advertising and public relations major; and Brittni King, freshman computer engineering major.

“I am delighted to have such talented, dedicated students to work with,” Jolliffe said.  “These projects will go a great way to moving forward the mission of the Brown Chair initiatives, which is to help all citizens of Arkansas live more productive and satisfying lives because of their improved abilities to read and write.”