Ph.D. University of Minnesota 1969

      In July of 1995, P. David Pearson assumed the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Education in the College of Education at Michigan State University, where he holds appointments in the Department of Teacher Education and the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education. In his current role, he continues to pursue a line of research related to reading instruction and reading assessment policies and practices at all levels—local, state, and national. He has been active in professional organizations, serving the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English in many capacities, both the National Reading Conference and The National Conference of Research in English as President, and American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education as a member of the Board. In 1989, the National Reading Conference presented him with the Oscar Causey Award for outstanding contributions to reading research. In 1990, he was honored by the International Reading Association by receiving the William S. Gray Citation of Merit for his contributions to theory, research, and practice. He has written and edited several books about research and practice, most notable being the Handbook of Reading Research , now in its second volume. He served on the boards of many educational research journals, including two terms as co-editor of Reading Research Quarterly and a term as editor of Review of Research in Education. Professor Pearson received his B. A. in history from the University of California at Berkeley, after which he taught elementary school in California for several years. He then went on to complete his Ph. D. in education at the University of Minnesota.