Joan Lazar

Co-author, Joan Lazar, (joanlazar@now-i-get-it.net), is both a scientist and a reading specialist. She began her professional career as a doctoral candidate in chemistry at Yale University but eventually felt a calling to nonprofit work and research that centered on struggling readers. Drawing on her background in science, she, together with Christine Vogel, created two highly effective literacy nonprofit organizations in Newark, New Jersey: Reading Naturally, a teacher and tutor training organization, and The Newark Literacy Campaign, a citywide reading tutorial service for people of all ages. Joan Lazar has received the Outstanding Nonprofit Leader award twice from the Prudential Foundation, as well as the Literacy Advocate of Newark award from the United Way of Essex County