{"id":19,"date":"2020-06-16T14:57:42","date_gmt":"2020-06-16T19:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/?page_id=19"},"modified":"2026-10-16T11:47:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T16:47:38","slug":"contacts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/contacts\/","title":{"rendered":"Faculty and Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"marsha-row mt-4 mb-4 flex flex-wrap -mx-2 lg:-mx-6  justify-start border-0 border-gray-100 first:mt-0\">\n\t\n<div class=\"columns w-full lg:w-4\/12  lg:px-6    mt-6\">\n<div class=\"\">\n\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-151\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/639\/2026\/10\/headshot_Backus.webp?w=211\" alt=\"\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/639\/2026\/10\/headshot_Backus.webp 576w, https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/639\/2026\/10\/headshot_Backus.webp?resize=211,300 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" \/><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"columns w-full lg:w-7\/12  lg:px-6    mt-6\">\n<div class=\"\">\n\n<p><strong>Dr. Mindy Backus<br \/>\n<\/strong>Office: EB 111F<br \/>\nbackus5@marshall.edu<br \/>\n304-696-2877<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dr. Mindy Backus<\/strong> is a professor in the Undergraduate Teacher Education department in the College of Education and Professional Development. She hopes to transfer the love of teaching to undergraduate students and to instill in them that every child deserves an excellent teacher. Dr. Backus teaches literacy courses in the undergraduate elementary education program as well as for secondary education students with a special education specialization. Dr. Backus works closely with local elementary schools and has a passion for animal therapy.<\/p>\n<p>She began the MU PAWS therapy dog program at Marshall University and takes therapy dogs into local elementary schools and community organizations. Dr. Backus advises students on the career of teaching in and outside the classroom, sharing anecdotes of years in public education. Her love of teaching and her students is only rivaled by her love of pickleball.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"marsha-row mt-4 mb-4 flex flex-wrap -mx-2 lg:-mx-6  justify-start border-0 border-gray-100 first:mt-0\">\n\t\n<div class=\"columns w-full lg:w-4\/12  lg:px-6    mt-6\">\n<div class=\"\">\n\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-86\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/639\/2020\/06\/Larisonpic.png?w=276\" alt=\"\" width=\"276\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/639\/2020\/06\/Larisonpic.png 280w, https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/639\/2020\/06\/Larisonpic.png?resize=276,300 276w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 276px) 100vw, 276px\" \/><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"columns w-full lg:w-7\/12  lg:px-6    mt-6\">\n<div class=\"\">\n\n<p><strong>Dr. Isaac Willis Larison<\/strong><br \/>\nlarison@marshall.edu<br \/>\n304-746-2051<br \/>\nMarshall University Literacy Education Program 100 Angus E. Peyton Drive South Charleston, WV 25303<\/p>\n<p><strong>Isaac Willis Larison<\/strong>, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor with the Literacy Education Program, Marshall University in South Charleston, West Virginia.\u00a0 His educational experience includes elementary, middle, and high school classroom teaching.\u00a0\u00a0 He served as a Fulbright Scholar for one year in Norway and was the director of an international studies program in Denmark for 12 years.\u00a0 He is especially interested in the role children&#8217;s literature plays in literacy development and influence of multicultural and cross-cultural perspectives among children and teachers in schools.\u00a0 Dr. Larison has served on local, state, and national committees to promote literacy and children&#8217;s literature.\u00a0 He has presented at conferences around the world and is published in state, national, and international journals.\u00a0 His most recent research project examines the use of iPad technology to assist students with writing.\u00a0 He received a fellowship to study at the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany in 2017 and 2019.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":553,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/553"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/literacy-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}