Team

Lab Director

Jackie Eunjung Relyea, Ph.D.

Jackie Eunjung Relyea, Ph.D. (jrelyea@ncsu.edu) is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at the College of Education at North Carolina State University. Her research focuses on understanding reading development, especially in multilingual children or emergent bilinguals, and developing and evaluating evidence-based literacy intervention models that emphasize the development of students’ content knowledge, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.

Research Assistants

Xinyan Fu, M.Ed.

Xinyan Fu, M.Ed. (xfu9@ncsu.edu), is currently a doctoral student in the Literacy Language Arts (LELA) program at North Carolina State University. Before her graduate studies, Xinyan taught English to 7th and 10th graders in a large public school in China. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in English Education from Chengdu Normal University in Sichuan, China, and her Master of Education in Teaching English as a Second Language from Hunan Normal University and the University of Delaware. Additionally, she obtained her ESL certification during her undergraduate education. Xinyan’s research interests center on English language learners in multilingual classrooms, multiliteracy approaches to support EFL/ESL learners, and reading and writing instruction.

Haleema Khalil, M.Ed.

Haleema Khalil, M.Ed. (hkhalil2@ncsu.edu) is currently a second year doctoral student in the Literacy Language Arts (LELA) program at North Carolina State University. Before starting her doctoral journey, Haleema earned an M.Ed. in English Language Learners from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education as a Fulbright Scholar. Prior to that, she completed her undergraduate degree in linguistics, from the University of Central Punjab, Pakistan. She has taught 4th grade as an English language teacher working with the Cambridge curriculum for two years. Her research interests revolve around literacy development, multilingual learner agency, diverse representations in curricula, and teacher training.

Corrie Dobis, M.Ed.

Corrie Dobis, M.Ed. (chsulliv@ncsu.edu) is a doctoral student in the Literacy and English Language Arts (LELA) program at North Carolina State University. Prior to her graduate studies, Corrie taught 3rd grade in a large public school system here in North Carolina. She received her Bachelor of Science in Elementary (K-6) and Special Education (K-12) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In addition to this, Corrie received a graduate degree from North Carolina State University in the New Literacies and Global Learning program. Her research interests include multiliteracy approaches to learning and how the use of culturally sustaining pedagogies supports multilingual learners within elementary grade levels.

Katie Peachey, M.Ed.

Katie Peachey, M.Ed. (kpeache@ncsu.edu) is a doctoral student in the Literacy and English Language Arts (LELA) program at North Carolina State University. Before starting graduate school, she taught 8th grade and 12th grade English in a small public school in Pennsylvania. She received her Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education and English from Bloomsburg University.  She also obtained her ESL certification and minored in Spanish during her undergraduate studies.  While teaching, Katie also obtained her Master of Education in Literacy from Wilkes University. Katie’s research interests include, English Language Learners in the ELA classroom, writing and grammar instruction, and linguistic diversity.  

Courtney Weathers, B.S.

Courtney Weathers, B.A. (cmweath2@ncsu.edu) obtained her B.S. in Elementary Education from NC State in 2021. She is continuing her education at NC State in the New Literacies and Global Learning program with a concentration in literacy education. She was a research assistant for three years on the Wolfpack WORKS project that provided intensive literacy support to beginning teachers in high-need districts. Courtney’s research interests include critical feminist pedagogy, using children’s literature for social change, and the development of reading comprehension for English Language Learners.

Collaborators

• Jill Fitzgerald, Ph.D., Professor Emerita/Research Professor, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• James S. Kim, Ed.D., Professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Dennis S. Davis, Ph.D., Associate Professor at NC State College of Education
• Jie Zhang, Ph.D., Associated Professor at University of Houston
• HyeJin Hwang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota