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Deb Augsburger |
Deb Augsburger is a professor of Literacy Education at Lewis University. She earned her doctorate in reading education from Northern Illinois University. She began working as a faculty member at Lewis in 2002 and currently serves as program director for the Reading Specialist, ReadingTeacher, and Literacy and English Language Learning degree programs. Her specialty areas are literacy assessment and children’s literature. She directs the Lewis University reading clinic service to area schools, which provides tutoring in reading comprehension, as well as comprehensive diagnostic assessment and intervention recommendations for students who have challenges with reading and writing.She has worked in partnership/consultation with school districts and diocesan schools and was awarded two teaching excellence awards by her peers. Her presentations for schools, IRC, and other professional organizations (ILA, LRA, LDA, ISTE) include understanding dyslexia, close reading, technology, using games to promote literacy, and storytelling. Deb is licensed in Illinois as a Reading Specialist, with secondary English and Psychology endorsements on her PEL. Early in her career, she taught in early childhood and worked as a children’s book specialist, selecting books for P-3 school libraries and book fairs. She is passionate about promoting books with teachers and children, particularly books that provide what Rudine Sims-Bishop called windows and mirrors for children and young people. |
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Jennifer Young is a lifelong learner passionate about spreading the love of learning. Shebegan her teaching career as a district intern with the Los Angeles Unified School District. She moved toIllinois when she got married and taught at Bushnell-Prairie City Elementary for 7 years. While at BPC,Jennifer earned a Masters in Education as a reading specialist. She then went to Galesburg 205 and beganher career there as a Title 1, Reading Recovery teacher. After 9 years, she missed having her ownclassroom, and transferred to a 7th grade ELA position. Her district went through some restructuring, so herbuilding became a 5/6 building. Jennifer taught 5th grade ELA for 4 years before switching over to SS forthe past two years. With all these changes, Jennifer has learned that she can never stop learning. |
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When participating in her fifth-grade career day, Camille Lutz dressed as her favorite teacher and never looked back. However, she didn’t realize she wanted to become a special education teacher until she worked as a teaching assistant during the summer after her first year of college. A few years later, Camille completed a student teaching assignment at James B. Conant High School and immediately realized that her heart felt most complete when working with high school students. Fortunately,she was hired at that same school later that spring, and she has proudly called Conant her home ever since. As a member of the Special Education Department, Camille has taught across all programs, working with students with specific learning disabilities, Down syndrome, emotional disorders, other health impairments, and Autism. During her tenure, she has led several programs within the department and still struggles to choose a favorite. In the early 2000s, Camille attended her first IRC conference and fell in love with reading. She returned to her department chair and shared her goal of earning a master’s degree in reading. Although she was initially encouraged to wait, Camille patiently held onto her aspiration until literacy became a district priority. After completing her master’s, Camille taught reading in both the special education and English departments. She helped create and run the schoolwide literacy program, served on multiple district committees focused on literacy, and designed and taught an in-district course titled Literacy in the Content Area Classroom. Ask Camille, and she will tell you she was made to be an educator. She is passionate about her students, and her daily work reflects her commitment to helping each one feel successful and capable. Camille also prides herself on supporting and encouraging her colleagues; she believes that building a strong, supportive staff community directly contributes to stronger support for students. |
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Cindi Koudelka |
Cindi Koudelka is a Curriculum Specialist with National Board Certification in Adolescent Young Adulthood/English Language Arts at Fieldcrest School District and an adjunct professor for Aurora University. Being a bibliophile and school nerd, she is certified in Early Childhood, Elementary, and Special Education, K–12 Reading, and Administration and has taught at all of those levels. She is a youth advocate who believes in the power of literacy to disrupt systemic oppression and strives to grow her own learning with research focused on critical adolescent literacies, educational equity, positioning, and youth participatory action research. Cindi is dedicated to sharing this learning with other educators as she is a member of multiple national and international literacy and research organizations. Through those opportunities, she presents at a variety of conferences, serves as a peer reviewer, and participates in related committees in her efforts to foreground activism, community, and love. Cindi also believes it is critical that educators give back to the local and state communities, so she has been an active member in IRC as she has been a Council President for both SRL and SRRC, a Regional Director, served on various committees, and currently continues to chair the advocacy committee. |
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Melissa Wheeler |
Melissa Wheeler has taught in a variety of settings over the last 15 years. She took her first teaching job in a small, private school in upstate NY, teaching 1st and 2nd grades. Finding the reading curriculum to be inadequate, Melissa heavily supplemented with materials she purchased herself. Following a passion to bring literacy in a new way to underserved students, she left the private school to work in some of the toughest, lowestperforming inner-city schools in Syracuse. She soon found a permanent classroom at a charter school in the city, where she was a 2nd grade classroom teacher once again. While there, Melissa returned to school to work on her MSED in Literacy, Birth -12th grade. Shortly after obtaining her MSED in Literacy, Melissa moved with her family to Oakland, IL. In 2012, she was hired as the Reading Specialist at the elementary school in that town. This year, Melissa will be teaching 4th grade at Dr. Howard Elementary School in Champaign. She is excited to get to infuse all subject areas with rich literacy opportunities. In the future, Melissa plans to pursue a PhD in Social Justice with a focus on Literacy. She believes that literacy is an essential tool for unlocking social justice and equity, and wants to further its use both domestically and globally through work in the classroom, as well as providing high-quality training to teachers worldwide. Melissa is an active member in ILA and IRC due to her conviction that organizations such as these are key to promoting social justice and equity in schools. She holds that it is essential that all students receive a high-quality education, fueled by rich literacy skills, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, zip code, religious beliefs, or any other conceivable circumstance. |
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Diana Wilkie has been a reading teacher most of her career either as a classroom teacher or specialist in both the elementary level and high school level. She has done this both in city and suburban settings. She is currently the Reading Interventionist at O’Donnell School in Aurora and has been in employed in District 131 since 2005 as a Kindergarten teacher for most of her years but also a 2nd grade teacher and high school reading teacher for two years. Diana has a passion for reading and great literature. She creates a safe & loving classroom environment that gives students the freedom to become confident and independent thinkers. She uses instructional strategies and assessment to meet the needs of all learners within the inclusive classroom. Diana engages in ongoing self-reflection and personal growth. She maintains professional standards and is dependable at all times. She is highly committed to all stakeholders with effective communication. Diana presented standards-based work with the district report card team at professional conferences. She worked with the local bookstore to bring many authors to our school. She continues to learn by attending PD and by having professional conversations with colleagues. |
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Cindy Gerwin |
Cindy Gerwin is a fifth-grade classroom teacher at Winnebago Elementary in Marquardt District 15. She models lifelong learning through her achievements: an ELL endorsement (2008),a Reading Teacher designation (2017), a National Board Certification (2013), serving as Illinois Reading Council’s (IRC) Past-President and 2014 Conference Chair (hosting the most well attended and profitable conference), writing numerous articles including a column in the IRC Journal, completing her Doctorate of Education in Literacy (2018), and becoming a Fellow Member of The Educator Collaborative. She assumed numerous leadership positions in her school/district having taught across a multitude of learning environments including serving as an adjunct/university practicum supervisor for National Louis University,as a cooperating teacher for pre-service educators, and as a mentor to early-career practitioners. Cindy travels both nationally and internationally presenting and learning alongside other educators (Ghana,Guatemala, United Kingdom, and Japan). Her interests include the affective domain (motivation,engagement, identity, agency, self-efficacy); multicultural and disciplinary literacy; authentic project-based learning; and social equity and justice. She builds upon current research, theory, and data to provide practical, realistic applications improving student outcomes. As IRC's Jerry Johns Reading Educator of the Year Award recipient (2025), she shares her passion for engaging students and their families with authentic, integrated, and interdisciplinary literacy experiences. She is founder of Literacy 4 Life (L4L)—supporting three branches: student, family, and teacher. The L4L community seeks to: create positive joyful literacy experiences, improve access to culturally relevant books, bring district stakeholders together to collaborate and share knowledge, and empower change. |
IRC Staff |
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Carrie Sheridan
Executive Director |
Karen Kortkamp
Public Relations Coordinator |