VERO BEACH — Richard and JoAnne Vacca, professors emeriti in the School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies at Kent State University, were selected as the 2014 Distinguished Service recipients for Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services Fifth Annual Hall of Fame Awards.
Rich and JoAnne met as undergraduate English majors at SUNY Albany and went on to have long and esteemed careers in higher education. Rich began his college teaching career at Northern Illinois University and then the University of Connecticut, before becoming a professor of education at Kent State from 1980-2003. At Kent, Rich directed the Reading and Writing Center and coordinated the Masters of Arts in Teaching program. Additionally, Rich is a past president of the International Reading Association (IRA) and is a member of the IRA’s Reading Hall of Fame.
JoAnne taught at Russell Sage College in Troy, New York, before also coming to Kent State in 1980. At Kent, JoAnne taught courses in literacy and research, was Department Chair of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies, and was a member of the University Foundation Board.
Rich and JoAnne are co-authors of several textbooks, including Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum. They have been very supportive of Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services throughout the years. In 2001, they endowed the Vacca Fellowship for Teachers of Literacy, which funds graduate coursework in literacy education. Additionally, the Vacca Office of Student Services was renovated and dedicated in 2007 as a welcoming and centralized academic advisory center that serves students of every major in the College.
Rich and JoAnne currently live in Vero Beach, Florida, where they continue to root for the Golden Flashes.
The College of EHHS will honor the Vaccas and six other distinguished alumni, including Dr. Pat Camerino (Centennial Alumni Award), Dr. William Speer (Distinguished Alumni Award), Dr. Sharyl Trail (Diversity Alumni Award), Dr. Sabina Uzakova (International Alumni Award), David Struckel (Recent Alumni Award), and Dr. Jack Lengyel (Alumni Leadership Award).
The awards ceremony will take place on Friday, Oct. 17 starting at 6:30 p.m. at the KSU Student Center Ballroom. To purchase tickets to the ceremony, visit https://commerce.cashnet.com/halloffame. For more information, please contact the College of EHHS at ehhsalumni@kent.edu.
