|
Twila C. Liggett
|
| Title: |
Founder and Executive Producer of Reading Rainbow |
| Industry: |
Educational Television |
| Type of Organization: |
College |
| Major Product/Service: |
Children's public television programming and teaching future teachers |
| Expertise: |
Dr. Liggett specializes in educational design, administration and production management. |
| Geographic Area of Distribution: |
International |
| Affiliations: |
The National Academy of Arts and Sciences; International Reading Association. |
| University/Degree: |
B.S., Secondary and Music Education, Union College, Lincoln, NE; M.A., Elementary Education; Ph.D., Curriculum, Instruction and Administration, University of Nebraska, 1977; Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, Marymount Manhattan College, 2001 |
| Born: |
March 25, 1944, Pipestone, Minnesota |
| Hobbies/Sports: |
Windsurfing, reading, boating, race walking |
| Work History: |
Dr. Liggett has been a Music Teacher and an Elementary School Teacher from 1966-1974, an Assistant Elementary School Principal, a Statewide Reading Consultant from 1974-1980 with the Nebraska State Department of Education, a Project Director for "Nebraska Right to Read", Founder, Creator, Executive Producer and Spokesperson for "Reading Rainbow" from 1983 to 2006 and held appointments as an Adjunct Professor at Marymount Manhattan College and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She is currently a Professor of Education at Marymount Manhattan College. |
| Honors & Awards: |
Dr. Liggett has won over 160 awards including the American Educational Research Award, 1979 for co-authoring, "The Whole Person Book Toward Self-Discovery and Life Options"; The Prix Juenesse International Award, 1992; Twenty-six National Emmys; The Peabody Award, 1993; Honored by the International Reading Association for "Exceptional Contributions to Worldwide Literacy", 1992. She was also the recipient of The Carle Honors "Bridge" Award for bringing picture books to new and larger audiencies through "Reading Rainbow", presented by the Eric Carle Museum in October of 2007. |
| Published Works: |
Various works including "The Reading Rainbow Guide to Children's Books: The 101 Best Titles", 1992; "The Whole Person Book Toward Self-Discovery and Life Options", 1977; Author of a Chapter, "The Family Literacy Alliance: Using Public Television Book-based Series to Motivate At-Risk Populations: Connections In School and Communities", 1995; Entries for a Handbook for Literacy Educators: Research on Teaching the Communicative and Visual Arts "Voices from the Field", 1998; "The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature", 2001; Has been a panelist and presenter at various conferences including "Logging Into the Playgound: How Digital Media Are Shaping Children's Learning", at the Joan Ganz Cooney Inaugural Symposium in New York City, May, 2008 |
| Career Accomplishments: |
Dr. Liggett founded and served as Executive Producer for "Reading Rainbow" from 1983 to 2006. Under her leadership, the series has won over 160 awards including the Prix Juenesse, the Peabody Award, 26 national Emmys of which ten were in the Outstanding Children's Series category. As the primary fundraiser for "Reading Rainbow", Dr. Liggett secured over $40 million in underwriting from foundations and corporations including The Kellogg Company, B. Dalton Booksellers, Barnes and Noble, The Carnegie Foundation and the National Science Foundation. |
