PATRICIA MATHES

Patricia Mathes, Ph.D., is the director of SMU's Institute for Reading Research. With an emphasis on carefully designed curricula and intensive small-group instruction, Mathes' research is proving that early intervention is key to correcting reading problems before they progress. A former classroom reading teacher, Mathes has served on the faculties of pediatrics at the University of Texas Houston Medical School, the College of Education at Florida State University, and Peabody College for Teachers at Vanderbilt University.

Since 1991 she has been conducting large-scale classroom-based reading intervention research with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, as well as state agencies.

Mathes received her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University and is the author of several books, book chapters, journal articles and curricula related to learning and reading disabilities. She received the Interpretive Scholar Award from the American Educational Research Association in 2002 and the Distinguished Early Career Researcher Award from the Council for Exceptional Children in 2001.