Faculty & Staff Directory

Lisa Emili, assistant professor of geosciences,
earned her doctorate in the Department of Geography
at McMaster University. She is currently
completing a graduate certificate in GIS at Northern
Illinois University. Her research interests include
hydrology and groundwater resources. Her current
research focuses on the use of topographic indices
for the integration of spatial data on soil and vegetation
dynamics with hydrochemical data.

Karen Eppley is an assistant professor of education at Penn State Altoona. She earned a reading specialists certificate, a master's degree, and a PhD with an emphasis in language and literacy from Penn State. Her research is about the situated nature of learning and literacies, specifically in rural contexts. These inquiries are framed by concerns with diversity and equity. She teaches courses in language and literacy within the Arts & Literacy Block and draws closely on her elementary classroom teaching experience to help support preservice teachers’ thinking about the connection of theory and practice.

Select Publications:

Eppley, K. (2012). My roots dip deep: Literacy practices as a mirror for traditional, modern, and postmodern ruralities. In M. Corbett & W. Green. (Eds.), Rural Education and literacies research: Transnational issue and perspectives. New York: Palgrave.

Eppley, K. (2011). Reading Mastery as pedagogy of erasure. The Journal of Research in Rural Education, 26(13), 1-5.

Eppley, K. (2011). Teaching rural place: Pre-service language and literacy teachers consider place-conscious literacy. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 6(2), 87-103.

Eppley, K. & Shannon, P. (2011). "Did you like living in a trailer? Why or why not?": Discourse and the third space in a rural pen pal exchange. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 289-297.

Eppley, K. (2010). Picturing rural America: An analysis of the representation of contemporary rural America in picture books for children. The Rural Educator, 32(1), 1-15.