Courtney Shimek, PhD

Dr. Courtney Shimek received her doctorate in Language and Literacy Education with an emphasis in Literacies and Children’s Literature and her MEd in Reading Education from the University of Georgia. As a former Preschool teacher in Columbia, South Carolina, Dr. Shimek is certified in Early Childhood Education (Birth-3rd Grade).

Stemming from her experiences teaching young children and her work with K-7th grade readers at the University of Georgia Reading Clinic, Dr. Shimek’s research interests include the confluence between play and literacy, multimodal responses to literature, the use of nonfiction in elementary classrooms and literacy teacher preparation. At WVU, she teaches courses in the Elementary Education Bachelor of Arts program that focus on emergent literacy practices, assessment and instruction in the elementary classroom, and diverse children’s literature.