About our authors
Ray Reutzel, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Fellow in the Center for the School of the Future at Utah State University. He taught in grades K, 1, 3, 5, & 6. He is the author of more than 235 published research reports, articles, books, book chapters, and monographs. He is the past editor of Literacy Research and Instruction and The Reading Teacher, and is the current executive editor of the Journal of Educational Research. He received the 1999 A.B. Herr Award and the 2013 ALER Laureate Award from the Association of Literacy Researchers and Educators and the 2007 John C. Manning Public School Service Award from the International Reading Association. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association, Literacy Researchers Association, and the Association Literacy Educators and Researchers. Dr. Reutzel was elected a member of the Reading Hall of Fame in 2011 and served as its President from 2017-2019. In 2019, he received the William S. Gray Citation of Merit from the International Literacy Association.
Ray and his sweetheart of 47 years, a former kindergarten teacher, Pamela, enjoy hanging out with their 18 grandkids and hiking daily with a weighted backpack (rucking) on mountain trails behind their home with their goldendoodle pup, Cooper. They also love riding their mountain ebikes on trails in the Wasatch and Wasatch-back mountain range, playing pickleball, and attending rodeos and their grandkids' football and baseball games.
Robert B. Cooter, Jr. has taught grades 1, 3, 4, & 7, and as a Title I Reading specialist in the public schools. He later served as the “Reading Czar” (associate superintendent) for the Dallas Independent School District (TX), and was named a Texas State Champion for Reading by the governor. Along with colleagues Kathleen Spencer Cooter and J. Helen Perkins, he received the Urban Impact Award from the Council of Great City Schools for designing and implementing effective reading programs serving children in inner-city schools.
Dr. Cooter previously served as editor of The Reading Teacher (International Literacy Association) and is a recipient of the A.B. Herr Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Literacy (Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers). He is currently Professor Emeritus at Bellarmine University, where his primary work focuses on translating science of reading (SOR) research into real-world classroom approaches for improving the literacy learning of children living at the poverty level.
Robert and his bride of 25 plus years, Kathleen, enjoy spoiling grandkids and spending time on their houseboat, Our Last Child. He practices and teaches Wado Ryu Karate and holds a first-degree black belt.
