Rate My Professor Rosary Lalik

Rosary V. Lalik is an associate professor emerita of education in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, where she served for 26 years from 1982 until her retirement in 2008. She earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the State University of New York College at Oswego and an Ed.D. from Syracuse University. Throughout her career, Lalik taught undergraduate and graduate courses in literacy and teacher research, consistently achieving 4.0 overall student evaluation scores across all courses. She provided leadership as director of education programs at the Northern Virginia Center starting around 2004 after relocating there from the Blacksburg campus in 2000. Lalik led the literacy program and the Department of Teaching and Learning for 18 years, integrating literacy with other disciplines such as science, and employed collaborative strategies to unite faculty and students.

An expert in literacy studies, Lalik’s research addressed social justice, equity, and gender issues. Her collaborations began during her doctoral studies at Syracuse University with colleagues like Alice Boljonis and Kathy Hinchman. Key publications include the book Bodily Knowledge: Learning about Equity and Justice with Adolescent Girls (2004, co-authored with Kimberly L. Oliver), “Differences and tensions in implementing a pedagogy of critical literacy with adolescent girls” (Reading Research Quarterly, 2007), “‘The Beauty Walk, this ain’t my topic’: learning about critical inquiry with adolescent girls” (Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2004, with Kimberly L. Oliver), “Writings on the Wall: Nurturing Critical Literacy Through a Community-Based Design Project,” “Critical issues: Examining constructions of race in literacy research: Beyond silence and other oppressions of white liberalism” (Journal of Literacy Research, 2001, with Kathleen Hinchman), and “Complexities in the Roles of Reading Specialists” (International Journal of Education, 2010, with Mary Barksdale and others). In 2008, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors conferred upon her the title of associate professor emerita in recognition of her dedicated teaching and leadership.