Bethany Silva

Bethany Silva is a research assistant professor of education and director of the Community Literacy Center at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Silva earned her Ed.D. in reading, writing and literacy from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her M.F.A. in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Dr. Silva's research looks at diverse groups of teens' digital writing processes in out of school settings. Dr. Silva has co-directed multiple practitioner inquiry groups that seek to recognize and honor the professional knowledge that educators bring to their work with youth and adults. In honor of her work with youth writing programs and practitioner inquiry groups, Dr. Silva won the 2017 Philadelphia Writing Project Award for outstanding commitment to practitioner inquiry and literacy instructional leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. In her role as director of the Community Literacy Center, she collaborates with professors, teachers, youth and families to nurture New Hampshire's literacy network. Her research focuses on developing and sustaining literacy programming that values the many ways individuals and communities engage with literacy in pursuit of their goals.