University Distinguished Professor Patricia A. Edwards has been named a National Academy of Education member. The title recognizes educators and education scholars who have made outstanding contributions to the field. Edwards is one of five current Michigan State University faculty to hold the title, and one of 19 to be selected for the title in 2026.
“This is truly an extraordinary honor — one that feels both affirming and humbling,” said Edwards, who has been part of the Department of Teacher Education faculty since 1989. “I am still taking in the magnitude of what this recognition represents. Being elected to the National Academy of Education is one of the most profound honors of my professional life.”
Edwards is a world-renowned scholar of reading and literacy. An author or co-author of 10 books and dozens of book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles, she is a member of the Reading Hall of Fame, a National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy Distinguished Scholar and a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association. She was the first African American president of the Literacy Research Association and was president of the International Literacy Association (formerly: International Reading Association).
“The distinction from the National Academy of Education further reinforces what MSU Spartans already know: Patricia Edwards is a dedicated, influential and compassionate advocate for the advancement of reading and literacy,” Dean Jerlando F. L. Jackson said.
Edwards has a number of awards and accolades to her name — including the 2025 AACTE Gloria Ladson-Billings Book Award for “Teaching with Literacy Programs: Equitable Instruction for All” (Harvard Education Press, 2023) and selection as a member of The HistoryMakers, a digital repository of the Black experience. Edwards’ contributions to The HistoryMakers were added to the more than 11,000 hours of testimony that are permanently stored in the Library of Congress.
Her favorite quote is “don’t give up,” a motivation she credits to her parents, John Edwards and Annie Kate Plummer Edwards.
“They were my earliest teachers and my greatest champions,” Edwards said. “So much of my journey has been shaped by their belief in education, perseverance and service. This honor carries their legacy with it in very meaningful ways.”
Edwards’ journey includes degrees from Albany State University, North Carolina A&T University, Duke University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In addition to her decades of service at MSU, Edwards has held external service roles as the Reading Hall of Fame Emerging Scholars Fellowship Program’s chair (2019-present), an expert advisor for the National Association for Family, School and Community Engagement (2019-present), member of the Michigan Department of Education’s Family Engagement Stakeholders’ Task Force (2016-present) and chair of the Oscar S. Causey Committee for the Literacy Research Association — among other roles. (Edwards was the first African American to receive the Causey Award in 2020.)
This election "affirms a career devoted to advancing educational equity, literacy and the central role of families and communities in children’s learning,” Edwards said. “This recognition is deeply personal — it reflects not only my scholarship, but the mentors, students, families and communities who shaped my work and trusted me with their stories. I see this election as both an acknowledgment of past contributions and a call to continued responsibility: to use research in service of justice, to elevate historically marginalized voices and to help shape an educational future where excellence and equity are inseparable.”
This story originally appeared on the College of Education website.
