Kathy G. Short, Ph.D.

Kathy Short's research centers on how literature shapes the way children and young people understand and interact with the world. She is the founding director of the College of Education's Worlds of Words: Center of Global Literacies and Literatures, which includes a collection of 40,000 children's and adolescent books and a website that publishes three journals and resources on global literature.

Short developed "critical content analysis," a research methodology that analyzes text and images found in children's literature to evaluate  the messages within books through critical theory lenses. She also engages in qualitative research in classrooms to examine how literature shapes children's views of the world. Short has written, co-written or co-edited numerous books that have become among the most cited in the field and have served as resources for educators around the world. She established Worlds of Words in 2007 to serve as an outreach space for faculty, students and the public; the center has more than 50,000 visitors each year.

Short has received grants from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Marshall Foundation. She received the "Outstanding Educator in the Language Arts" award in 2011 from the National Council of Teachers of English. Her colleagues in 2019 elected her to the Reading Hall of Fame, a national organization dedicated to improving reading instruction that recognizes literacy educators whose reputation is "widely known and respected by people in the profession."