Professor Frank Manis
Frank Manis is a Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Southern California, where he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in developmental psychology and literacy development for 34 years. He has published 70 articles and book chapters on reading disabilities, development of literacy in primary and secondary languages, and cognitive functioning in special populations of children. Much of this work was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The major focus of his research has been on identifying cognitive processes underlying differences in reading skills among children with reading disabilities. He reviews for several journals, including Scientific Studies of Reading, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, and Developmental Psychology, and edited Scientific Studies of Reading for six years. He is author or co-author of three interactive websites for simulating the processes of child, adolescent, and adult development: MyVirtualChild (with Mike Radford); MyVirtualLife (with Janine Buckner); and MyVirtualTeen. A member of USC’s Center for Excellence in Teaching from 2006–2009, Manis received teaching, research, and service awards at his university in 2004 and 2012. He holds a BA from Pomona College and a PhD from the University of Minnesota.