Gay Ivey

Gay Ivey is a literacy researcher and educator whose work focuses on adolescents’ reading engagement and the social, emotional, and academic consequences of meaningful literacy experiences. She is the William E. Moran Distinguished Professor in Literacy in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a past president of the Literacy Research Association. Ivey is also an elected member of the Reading Hall of Fame and a recipient of the P. David Pearson Scholarly Influence Award, recognizing the impact of her scholarship on literacy research and practice.

Ivey is coauthor, with Peter Johnston, of Teens Choosing to Read: Fostering Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Growth Through Books, which reports on a multi‑year study of adolescents who moved from reluctant to enthusiastic readers and documents how self‑selected reading supported their academic performance, wellbeing, and moral and relational development. Her broader body of research examines reading motivation and engagement in middle grades classrooms, highlighting how classroom contexts that honor student choice and socially significant texts can transform students’ literate, emotional, and relational lives.