UIndy opens literacy research, education center
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The University of Indianapolis on Wednesday will mark the opening of the Nanci Vargus Learning Resource Center, which aims to support literacy research, study best practices to better literacy and prepare teachers through one-on-one instruction with children for reading development.
The center was made possible through a gift made in memory of Nanci Vargus by her daughter Jilda Vargus-Adams. Her mother was a UIndy educator and focused her time on guiding elementary through college students to improve literacy, the university said.
“As a child, Mom literally read every book in her local library’s children’s section. She loved books. But more than that, she loved the joy that everyone can get from reading and she built her career with that goal in mind,” Jilda Vargus-Adams said in a new release. “Both as an elementary school teacher and as a professor of education, Mom endeavored to ensure that all children could have the gift of literacy.”
The new literacy research hub will support the Indiana Department of Education with statewide initiatives to turn the trend of declining literacy rates, according to UIndy.
“Literacy rates in Indiana have been on the decline for almost a decade,” said John Kuykendall, Dean of the University of Indianapolis College of Education & Applied Behavioral Sciences, in the release. “Thanks in part to this generous gift, our future educators at UIndy are being equipped with the right instructional tools in the science of reading to improve literacy outcomes for the students they will go on to teach.”
UIndy will hold a grand opening ceremony for the new center at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.