Katie Paciga - Columbia College Chicago

Katie Paciga

Associate Professor

kpaciga@colum.edu

Biography

Kathleen A. Paciga is an Associate Professor of Education in the department of Humanities, History, and Social Sciences at Columbia College Chicago, teaching courses in the Education and Cultural Studies minor programs of study. Katie's work examines the ways in which media, in all of its diverse forms (i.e., digital or printed), are integrated into children’s literate lives. Katie is concerned with how media affect children's language and literacy development and learning, and how grown-ups teach around and through media. Her work also examines the curricula and policies that affect early literacy instruction, including recent initiatives to ban and censor books children read in schools.

Katie holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She began her career as an educator with five years of primary grade level teaching experiences in schools serving a low income and English language learning population. She maintains an active K-9 teaching license in the elementary grades, with endorsement areas in K-4 and 5-8 reading teacher, 5-8 general science, and 5-8 foreign language (Spanish).

Katie has received several awards for her teaching and research, including an appointment as an early career research fellow jointly sponsored by the Technology in Early Childhood Center at Erikson Institute and the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Digital Media at Saint Vincent College. Her scholarship has been published in peer-reviewed journals and as scholarly books and book chapters. Katie also served as a member of the Randolph Caldecott Medal selection committee (2024) and as chair of the Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media Award committee for the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC, a division of the American Library Association).Her most recent book contributions are available at Teachers College Press and at MIT Press..       

Instructional Areas

Children's Literature, Literacy Development (including Digital and Media Literacy), Language Development, Culture & Education, Child Development, Educational Interactive Media, Teaching Methods

Creative Practice and Research Interests

Children's Literature, Book Censorship, Technology in the Early Years, Design and Use of Children's Media, Language and Literacy Development (including Digital Media Literacy), Educational Policy, Early Childhood Education

Degrees

B.S.E., Elementary Education Loyola University Chicago 2002
B.A., Spanish Loyola University Chicago 2002
M.Ed., Instructional Leadership University of Illinois Chicago 2006
Ph.D., Education Curriculum and Instruction Literacy, Language, Culture University of Illinois Chicago 2011