Phone:   309-677-3199                                                             

Email:   pchrosniak@bradley.edu

Patricia N. Chrosniak is an associate professor in teacher education with a particular curiosity regarding the development of literacy in children and

youth.   She teaches courses that include the study of integrating reading

and writing in content area subjects, general teaching methods for secondary teachers, as well as courses that explore the assessment of reading abilities

and how students interpret written texts and strategize to make sense of what they read.    Professor Chrosniak has expertise in the education of children with communication differences, especially children who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deafblind.   This expertise is evident in the connections she makes in her teaching about the acts of normal developing readers and how teachers can encourage literacy success in whatever environment they may be hired.   For over 15 years, Professor Chrosniak has been a popular lecturer and consultant in public schools and organizations in Central Illinois as well as in the Chicago area.   She has directed two reading clinics and has helped three colleges develop their graduate programs in reading.    From 1999 to 2004, Dr. Chrosniak was the director of a highly regarded graduate program for the preparation of teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing in Buffalo, NY.    She has always served on numerous college committees as an active member and oftentimes as chair.

Among Professor Chrosniak's research interests is a focus on the variety of ways that individuals of all ages mentally process and subsequently use written language across multiple cultures in which they may be engaged.    She has visited schools for the deaf as well as schools with normally hearing children in Budapest, Hungary and St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia.    She has presented her research at the International Congress of Teachers of the Deaf in Sydney, Australia as well as to the National Reading Conference where she serves on the editorial review board for the Journal of Literacy Research .    Professor Chrosniak has participated for five years in a national PT3 Catalyst Grant that enabled her to develop leadership skills to prepare new teachers to bridge the digital divide by integrating new and developing technologies in their classrooms.   She received a Leadership Award in 2002 from the Association of College Educators of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing for her work in the PT3 grant.    She has also been honored by her former students in the Who's Who Among Teachers in Colleges and Universities (1998) and by special college recognition certificates at the time of their graduation (1999, 2003).   Professor Chrosniak is passionate about her belief in children and their teachers and that literacy is truly possible for all.   She is committed to do whatever it takes to encourage new as well as seasoned teachers to develop a love of reading and to pass that on to the children they teach.

Professor Chrosniak's teaching requires students to blend analysis with reflection in a collaborative adventure where they are required to simulate classroom instruction.   She believes that all new teachers should be respected for their talents and gifts and should establish a philosophy of openness towards the possible.   She believes in providing many examples about the reading behaviors of children and youth, and draws upon her own journey to understand reading instruction from classroom teaching at the middle and high school levels, as well as from her work with schools districts and school boards from California to the Bronx and Brooklyn, to Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  

Degrees and Certification

Professor Chrosniak earned her BA in Philosophy with a second major in Elementary Education from Niagara University in 1977 magna cum laude ; her MS in Speech and Hearing Science from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1979 as a graduate fellow; her doctorate in Educational Psychology in 1991 from the University of Illinois, C-U.   Professor Chrosniak received dissertation awards from the College of Education and from the Graduate College at the U of I.   She spent five of her doctoral years as a junior scientist at the Center for the Study of Reading.   She has held Illinois teaching certificates for elementary (K-9) and for teaching the deaf and hard of hearing (P-12); and certification by the Council on Education of the Deaf as an administrator.