Faculty Profile: Dr. Charline Barnes

by Andrew Frisch

This semester Dr. Charline Barnes has essentially come home to Adelphi. Barnes is one of the newest faculty members in the Department of Literacy and Leadership in the School of Education.

Barnes hails from Brooklyn and recieved her B.A. in English education and psychology from Syracuse University in 1982. While at Syracuse, Barnes says she studied hard, but was active outside of the classroom, singing int he university gospel choir, volunteering as a reading tutor, and attending Syracuse's sporting events (one highlight was a trip to see the Winter Olympics). After receiving her bachelors, Barnes went on to earn a master of arts in Reading Education from George Washington University, and an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Barnes is well prepared to teach future educators about secondary literacy education, because she taught for ten years at the secondary level in Washington D.C. She has been on numerous boards, published numerous articles and books, and presented at conferences. She has also taught at the University of Northern Iowa. Among her achievements, Barnes was a Fulbright Scholar at Barbados' University of West Indies' School of Education.

Also, Barnes is on the board of the International Reading Association (http://www.reading.org), which has 90,000 members, and will serve in a "volunteer capacity until 2006." In addition to studying secondary literacy education, Barnes is also interested in African American studies.

Barnes' main reasons for coming to Adelphi were the opportunity to teach graduate-level classes and being close to her family. She likes the "nice students, staff, and faculty", and enjoys being close to New York City, which is, after all, "the U.S. cultural capital." her favorite thing about teaching is empowering students to be lifelong learners, and writing, publishing, and presenting with studetns. She finds that she learns from her students, just as they learn from her.

Barnes' advice to students is to balance their academic and personal lives and get involved in both the university and local communities.

Outside academics, Barnes likes traveling, watching high school and college sports, and, of course, reading and writing. Her favorite ice cream toppings are Snickers and caramel.

Barnes thinks it is important that everyone has a high level of literacy. In order to accomplish that, she "proactively" works to make the International Reading Association available to "all communities of educators."