Education
Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction, Specialization in Language and Education, University at Albany, State University of New York , 2002
M.A. English, Writing Option, University at Albany, State University of New York , 2001
B.A. History, University of California, Los Angeles, 1989
Biography
Dr. Mary Adler serves as Professor of English at California State University Channel Islands. She teaches courses in English education, composition pedagogy, Capstone research and creative writing.
She is the author of Writers at Play: Making the Space for Adolescents to Balance Imagination and Craft (Heinemann) and co-author (with Eija Rougle) of Building Literacy Through Classroom Discussion (Scholastic).
In 2019, she was recognized with a Faculty Innovation and Leadership (FILA) Award from the CSU Chancellor's Office. She has twice received the CSUCI Spirit of Excellence Award (2006 and 2018), a recognition that honors "integrity, unwavering commitment to student success, spirit of collaboration in an environment characterized by adversity, and continuous collaborative efforts in the pursuit of excellence."
Adler has twice co-directed, with Susan Shillinglaw, a NEH Summer Institute (2007 and 2009) focusing on the life and work of John Steinbeck. This experience has led to ongoing Institute presentation on Grapes of Wrath. Recently, Adler published an article in Steinbeck Review, “'It’s terrible and I’m not going to try to tell you it isn’t': Steinbeck’s Perspectives on Education."
A former middle school English teacher, Adler is a fellow of the National Writing Projects at UCLA (Center X) and UCSB (SCWriP).