Southeastern professor receives Phi Kappa Phi literacy grant
Contact: Tonya Lowentritt
Date: August 8, 2013
HAMMOND – Cynthia Elliot, a professor in the Southeastern Louisiana University Department
of Teaching and Learning, has been awarded a 2013 literacy grant of $2,500 from Phi
Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all
academic disciplines.
Elliot, who has taught at Southeastern for 18 years, is one of 14 recipients
nationwide to receive the award and was the 2011 recipient of the Southeastern President's
Award for Excellence in Faculty Service.
The grant, Elliot said, will be used to support the Imagination Library Project,
an early literacy initiative. As part of the project, children living in Tangipahoa
Parish will receive a new, age-appropriate book in the mail each month. The program
encourages parents to read with their children during the preschool years and aims
to foster a love of reading.
"The Phi Kappa Phi grant is a wonderful contribution to the larger Tangipahoa
community endeavor to provide young children from birth to age five with their own
library, at no cost to the family, regardless of income. The Imagination Library Project
has an early literacy focus with support from various agencies in Tangipahoa Parish,"
she said. "Once the project begins in Tangipahoa Parish, the hope is that the children
will be served for many years to come. It would be awesome for the Imagination Library
opportunity to become part of the early literacy culture for the community."
Elliot said the Imagination Library Coalition includes the United Way of Southeast
Louisiana, the Department of Teaching and Learning at Southeastern, Child Advocacy
Services, the Hammond Chamber of Commerce Education Committee, the Louisiana Children's
Discovery Center, Tangipahoa Parish Schools, Hammond City Court, Leaders Impacting
Tomorrow's Leaders (LITT), and Regina Coeli Head Start.
"The university is pleased to be a part of such an important early literacy initiative
in the community," Elliot added.
The Imagination Library Coalition is in the process of raising $25,000 to begin
the program this fall. For one child to receive books for one year the cost is $30.
The total cost per child for five years is $150, which will enable a child to receive
a new book every month until his or her fifth birthday, Elliot said.
To make a donation, contact Jamie Burchfield at the United Way Tangipahoa regional
office, 985-264-5344.
The Phi Kappa Phi Literacy Grants program was initiated in 2003 to provide an
opportunity for campus chapters and individual members to champion literacy initiatives
in their communities. Drawing from a multi-disciplinary society of students and scholars
from large and small institutions, applicants are encouraged to consider literacy
projects that have creative relevance to their disciplines and to the needs of their
communities.
Founded in 1897 at the University of Maine, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest
and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. The Society
has chapters on more than 300 select colleges and universities in North America and
the Philippines.
