Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A recent Mississippi State University doctoral graduate originally from China is earning top honors from a regional education association.
Lishu Yin, a former Starkville resident, recently won the Mid-South Educational Research Association's 2007 Herbert Handley Dissertation Award.
Formed in 1972, the organization represents professional educators in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee.
"This is a real recognition of the quality of her scholarship in a very competitive region," said Dwight Hare, professor of curriculum and instruction and Yin's dissertation director.
Yin, who received a doctorate in curriculum and instruction in May, completed her required research on the reading achievements of students in English-as-a-second-language programs. The former public school teacher focused specifically on "pullout programs"--those taught in separate settings--in one Midwestern school.
"I wanted to know more about how ESL programs affect students," she said. Traveling at her own expense, she conducted a two-year study in the school district and developed recommendations for more effective programs. "I provided suggestions such as lengthening summer school programs, fostering collaboration between resource and classroom teachers and including more team teaching," she explained.
While at MSU, Yin worked as a lecturer in the College of Education, as well as a Chinese language lecturer in the College of Arts and Sciences. She also holds a bachelor's degree from Guizhou University in China and a master's from Oral Robert University in Tulsa, Okla.
"I was really fortunate to have outstanding support at Mississippi State, especially from Dr. Hare," said Yin, who now lives and works in South Carolina.
The Handley Award is a memorial to a former MSU education professor who was widely recognized for his research leadership in the field.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.