UTSA 'Read Malawi' project will help improve children's literacy rate

>> VIDEO: Read Malawi project (KSAT-TV, Oct. 19, 6 p.m.)

Top photo: UTSA's 'Read Malawi' team members
Bottom photo: USAID official Sarah Moten

By Kris Rodriguez
Public Affairs Specialist

(Oct. 22, 2009)--UTSA President Ricardo Romo and College of Education and Human Development (COEHD) faculty, staff and graduate students recently welcomed Sarah Moten, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Education Division Chief of the Africa Bureau Office of Sustainable Development, to the UTSA Main Campus for the official launch of the "Read Malawi" textbooks and learning materials program.

The three-year, $13 million cooperative agreement between COEHD and the Republic of Malawi Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will provide five million books for 1,000 elementary schools in Malawi. The a "Read Malawi" project spans many disciplines in COEHD and involves the leadership efforts of faculty members throughout the college.

Miriam Martinez, UTSA professor of interdisciplinary learning and teaching, will head a development team including 10 members from Malawi to ensure that the books chosen provide high-quality stories that promote health-related life skills.

Audrey Dentith, UTSA associate professor of interdisciplinary learning and teaching, traveled to Malawi this month to visit the first of many schools over the next three years to evaluate the textbooks being implemented.

Tammy Wyatt, COEHD associate dean and associate professor of health and kinesiology, plans to research women's health issues in Malawi, while Marcheta Evans, associate professor of counseling, will focus on mental health issues related to Malawi natives.

Encarnacion Garza Jr., assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies, will oversee the leadership component and provide support for the teachers responsible for the project.

Once the three-year project is complete, the team members hope to have reached their goal of helping to improve the literacy rate of the children in Malawi, one of the world's poorest and least developed countries in the world.

The UTSA College of Education and Human Development is the leading provider of educators in the San Antonio area and one of the largest in Texas. Ranked third in the Unites States as producer of teacher-education degrees for Hispanics, the college is responsible for innovative research and grants in professional development, technology enhancement, health, school readiness, and bi-national and bicultural issues.