Allison Skerrett is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Director of Teacher Education in the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin. A former secondary English teacher in Boston Public Schools, Allison continues her commitment to secondary English teachers, students, and ELA curriculum and instructional practices through her teaching and research at the University level. Dr. Skerrett works with secondary English pre-service and in-service teachers as a teacher educator. Additionally, her research focuses on diverse adolescents’ literacy practices and the design and implementation of secondary English curriculum and instructional practices that reflect the strengths and needs of diverse student populations. She is the co-author of the book Teaching Literacy in Troubled Times: Identity, Inquiry, and Social Action at the Heart of Instruction.

Peter Smagorinsky is Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at The University of Georgia, emeritus; and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. From 2012-2020 he served as the faculty advisor to the student-edited Journal of Language and Literacy Education at UGA; and from 1996-2003 he coedited, with Michael W. Smith, Research in the Teaching of English. Recent awards include the 2020 Horace Mann League Outstanding Public Educator Award, 2018 International Federation for the Teaching of English Award, and 2018 Distinguished Scholar recognition by the National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy. His research and teaching take a sociocultural approach to issues of literacy education, literacy teacher education, and related social concerns. He is the co-author of the book Teaching Literacy in Troubled Times: Identity, Inquiry, and Social Action at the Heart of Instruction.