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Literacy Studies originated as a Working Group of the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities in 2004 with additional support for programming from the College of Humanities. Led by Harvey J. Graff, the newly-designated Ohio Eminent Scholar in Literacy Studies and Professor of English and History, the group aimed to initiate a campus-wide conversation, or set of conversations, about literacy and literacy studies.

The group found an unanticipated degree of welcome, interest, support, and participation that exceeded its own high expectations. It quickly became evident that the time and place were right for a broad initiative to promote interdisciplinary, critical, and comparative perspectives and approaches to exploring literacy. A visit by Mike Rose (UCLA) in May 2005 capped the first-year experience. Meetings called by the Provost's office led to Literacy Studies' designation as a university-wide initiative.

During 2005-2006, the Working Group maintained interest and enhanced participation through focused campus-wide public programs and discussion groups. These included the History of the Book Reading and Discussion Group, which began meeting in Fall 2005. In addition, the Working Group launched an Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Seminar in Literacy Studies and formally proposed a Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Literacy Studies.

The agenda and events calendar for 2006-2007 emphasized collaboration, from University of Toledo economist John Murray's presentation on intergenerational transmission of literacy in nineteenth-century America to considerations of "civic literacy" on the eve of unusually important mid-term elections. Literacy Studies also co-sponsored a lecture by the eminent linguist William Labov, continuing its practice of joint ventures with other programs at OSU.

Following a final planning meeting in early December 2006, the newly authorized University Council on Literacy Studies (UCLS) prepared to foster communication, coordination, and cooperation on issues relating to literacy and literacy studies across programs, colleges, and schools (Associate Provost Randy Smith, Founding Chair), with representatives from Education, English, and other major domains of the university community.

In 2007, the College of Humanities committed substantial support for the continuation and expansion of Literacy Studies programs and activities through at least 2010. This added support enabled us to establish offices in the George Wells Knight House, employ an Academic Program Coordinator, and make the transition from a Working Group of the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities to LiteracyStudies@OSU, a university-wide initiative.

The mission of LiteracyStudies@OSU is to foster a critical, cross-campus conversation and collaborative investigation into the nature of literacy, bringing together historical, contextual, comparative, and critical perspectives and modes of understanding, from the social and natural sciences to the arts and humanities, education, medicine, and law, stimulating new institutional and intellectual relationships between different disciplinary clusters and their constituents.

LiteracyStudies@OSU launched three major programs in 2007-2008. The Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Literacy Studies, including many of the key courses and electives, was approved in June 2007 by the Council on Academic Affairs. We mounted a broadly-based publicity effort to raise awareness about the specialization and courses, including notices in OSU media. The principal core courses, including English 750: Introduction to Graduate Studies in Literacy, developed by Harvey J. Graff (English and History) and Marcia Farr (Teaching & Learning), and English 884 (History 775): Literacy Studies: Past and Present, developed by Graff, were offered during 2008.

The second major initiative was the annual Ohio State University Lecture in Literacy Studies. The goal of this lecture series is to establish a place for both well-established and junior scholars to preview major studies and present new work. This brings additional publicity and recognition to LiteracyStudies@OSU and OSU more generally. For its first three years, this annual lecture is supported with funds from the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, matched by the College of Dentistry, the College of Art, the College of Biological Sciences, the University Libraries, and the Department of Entomology. John Duffy, University of Notre Dame, presented the inaugural lecture in January 2008.

The third development was to begin formal planning and development of a major international, interdisciplinary conference on literacy studies for graduate students, appropriately named Expanding Literacy Studies. Graff conceived of conference planning and development as an explicit pedagogical emphasis central to graduate and professional training. With his supervision, OSU Literacy Studies graduate students began organizing the conference, which took place at OSU April 3-5, 2009. The conference co-chairs were doctoral candidates Vicki Daiello (Art Education), Michael Harker (English), and Caitlin Ryan (Teaching & Learning). Conference planning committees included graduate students from nine other major Midwestern universities, helping to bringing the total number of graduate students involved in the planning and preparations to around forty-five students, broadening the base for conference involvement and establishing a practice of collaboration.

In addition, LiteracyStudies@OSU sponsored a full calendar of regular programming, including public programs and lectures, the History of the Book reading and discussion group, which starting meeting in 2004, and the Graduate Student Seminar on Literacy Studies, which has met monthly since 2005. Literacy Studies graduate students also founded the Graduate Interdisciplinary Literacy Studies Organization (GILSO) as a registered student organization, with Harvey J. Graff as advisor.

September 2008 marked the beginning of our fifth year. During 2008-2009, activities that we had nurtured for several years continued to mature. These included our series of public programs and visiting speakers, the monthly Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Seminar and the History of the Book reading group, among other activities. A great deal of our attention focused on overseeing the step-by-step planning of Expanding Literacy Studies, the first major international, interdisciplinary conference on literacy Studies for graduate and professional students. The theme—Expanding Literacy Studies—draws from the larger conversation on literacy and literacy studies, the many myths of literacy, and the growing number of new and emergent literacies. The conference aims to extend the dialogue, explore the landscape, and map the intersections of literacy studies as a framework for our continued critical investigation of literacy. This approach is meant both to expand the field and critique that expansion.

The Expanding Literacy Studies Call for Proposals yielded a stunning response: more than 180 proposals involving nearly 250 presenters from 66 institutions and 6 countries. The conference took place at OSU April 3-5, 2009. The program featured nearly 100 sessions, including organized panels, paper and poster presentations, creative performances, roundtable discussions, and workshops, plus three plenary events. The complete program is accessible online at literacystudies.osu.edu.

Overlapping in part with the conference, different concepts of and approaches to critical literacy marked the presentations of three invited speakers: Jerry Zaslove (Simon Frasier) gave the LiteracyStudies@OSU Fall Lecture; Lesley Bartlett (Teacher’s College, Columbia University) presented the annual Ohio State University Lecture on Literacy Studies; and Ira Shor (City University of New York) gave the LiteracyStudies@OSU Spring Lecture.

We also completed a thorough review of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Literacy Studies that involved updating and reorganizing the curriculum, and producing a new 4-page brochure. The changes were approved by the Council on Graduate Studies in December 2008.