Thomas Crisp, who received his Ph.D. in Curriculum, Teaching and Educational Policy from the Michigan State University College of Education in 2008, has been awarded the Elva Knight Research Grant from the International Reading Association.
Recipients of the honor receive up to $8,000 to fund two years of research that pertains to reading and literacy. Each year, approximately five scholars from around the world win this prestigious award.
With his grant, Crisp will analyze how femininity, masculinity, biological sex and gender are constructed in award-winning children’s picture books. Furthermore, he will analyze the ways readers may relate to the characters in these influential books.
Prior to his recent success, Crisp was awarded the 2011 International Research Society for Children’s Literature Research Grant for a related project on award-winning children’s picture books, and also received the Marguerite Cogorno Radencich Award for Outstanding Educator in Reading from the Florida Reading Association.
Crisp is currently an assistant professor of reading in the College of Education at University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee.