A Message From Your President
Tracy Alley, Ph.D.

Dear OCIRA Members,

Welcome to a new school year! We are thrilled you are a member of our great state organization. The Ohio International Reading Association has been around for many, many decades. We have continued to serve the state of Ohio by providing a wonderful yearly conference as well as research grants, scholarships for undergraduate students as well as graduate students, classroom literacy grants, and our new Hall of Fame Award. We have field representatives throughout the state of Ohio eagerly ready to serve you and help set up councils in your particular area. We have strong councils throughout the state of Ohio who meet regularly and offer superb programming.

We have many goals this year in OCIRA, and we hope you can help us have success with each goal. Our first goal is to encourage new members to join as well as add councils across the state. If you are located in Dayton, Columbus, or Toledo, we need you! Please contact me if you have an interest in setting up a local council. What is the purpose of the local council? It is a chance to meet a few times a year to share literacy strategies, hear authors or illustrators speak, and network with teachers, librarians, and professors in your area to hear the latest research updates.

Our second goal is to follow the country’s theme of “Going Green”. We will not be mailing newsletters to you three times a year. This will save paper, time, and money. We will be sending them to you electronically so make sure our Membership Director, Susan Payne, has an updated e-mail address. More money means better conferences and more opportunities to provide scholarships, grants, and awards to our members across the state.

We hope you have a fantastic school year, and we look forward to working with you. If you would like to get more involved in OCIRA, please contact me or one of the committee representatives. Please check out our wonderful website as well.

Have a marvelous fall season!

Tracy Alley, Ph.D.
President of the Ohio International Reading Association