Fox Valley Board has just returned from the IRC Leadership retreat. We have many new board members involved this year! In just two days, planning for the whole year has been tweaked and now underway. 

We are excited to announce our first speaker of the year! Camille Blachowicz, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus at the National College of Education of National Louis University. Currently she is Co-Principal Investigator of the Multifaceted Comprehensive Vocabulary Instruction Program. She is also co-director of The Reading Leadership Institute, a professional learning network of literacy staff developers housed at National Louis University. She has researched, written and presented extensively on the topic of vocabulary instruction which is the subject of three of her books including Teaching Vocabulary in All Classrooms and Teaching Academic Vocabulary K-8:Effective Practices Across the Curriculum. 

Camille Blachowicz began her career as a classroom teacher and a reading specialist. As a university professor she directed the Reading Program, was chair of the Department of Reading and Language and was a Fulbright and Spencer Fellow and as well as co-editor of the Journal of Reading Behavior. Dr. Blachowicz has been a board member of the Literacy Research Association and continues to serve on many committees, boards, and commissions for professional organization and state and federal groups. 

Dr. Blachowicz was named to the roster of Outstanding Teacher Educators in Reading by the International Reading Association and is a member of the Reading Hall of Fame.