Profile

Vassiliki “Vicky” Zygouris-Coe is a Professor of Reading Education at the University of Central Florida (UCF), where she has been teaching undergraduate and graduate-level literacy courses for several years. Her areas of interest include disciplinary literacy, professional development, online learning, K–12 literacy teacher education, and the convergence of technology and literacy. She has led the establishment of intensive reading programs in secondary schools and professional development for teachers in grades K–12 and has been conducting professional development in school systems throughout several states. Her book published by Routledge is titled, Teaching Discipline-Specific Literacies in Grades 6-12: Preparing Students for College, Career, and Workforce Demands.

She has received $11,000,000 in research and funded literacy projects. Dr. Zygouris-Coe’s research is highly interdisciplinary. Currently, she is a Co-Principal Investigator of a US Department of Education-funded project designed to provide educators in public VPK through Grade 3 with job-embedded professional learning to strengthen English Learners’ literacy and strengthen EL parent, family, and community engagement. As a Co-Principal investigator of a National Science Foundation-funded project, she is researching the role of disciplinary literacy in the preparation of preservice secondary science teachers.

Her research has been published in The Reading Teacher, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Reading & Writing Quarterly, Journal of Reading Education, Reading Horizons, Childhood Education, Topics in Language Disorders, Early Childhood Education Journal, The International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Focus in the Middle, Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, The International Journal of E-Learning, Florida Educational Leadership Journal, and Florida Reading Quarterly, ­among others. She has served as (a) co-editor of the Literacy Research and Instruction (LRI) journal (2010-2017), (b) co-editor for the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Text & Resource Review Forum, Professional Resources Column (2020-2021), (c) an associate editor of the Florida Educational Leadership journal, and (d) an editorial board member for the journals of Literacy Research & Instruction, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Reading Psychology, International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning, and Florida Educational Leadership.

Dr. Zygouris-Coe is the developer (Principal Investigator: 2004-2010; Co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Donna Baumbach, 2002-2004) of Florida’s first large-scale professional development in reading (Florida Online Reading Professional Development [FOR-PD]) for K-12 teachers that serviced 44,344 educators from 2003-2010 and continues to be offered through the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) to all certified Florida K-12 teachers. Dr. Zygouris-Coe has been a leader in Florida statewide literacy initiatives and for years has been collaborating with the FLDOE in consulting, reviewing, and participating in core statewide literacy initiatives for K-12 and teacher education sectors.

Dr. Zygouris-Coe is also the founder and organizer of the UCF Literacy Symposium, a professional learning outreach initiative that supports the professional needs of PreK-12 educators in the fields of reading and literacy education.