Marino C. Alvarez

Marino C. Alvarez was inducted into the College of Applied Human Sciences Hall of Fame in the fall of 2025. He was previously inducted into the College of Education and Human Services Hall of Fame in 2019 and was recognized as the College’s Distinguished Alumnus that same year.

Alvarez earned an associate degree from the Junior College of Albany, a bachelor’s degree in history and teacher education from Fort Lewis College, and both a master’s degree in reading and a doctorate in reading and special education from West Virginia University. He served in the United States Air Force and the Air National Guard from 1961 to 1967, receiving an honorable discharge as a staff sergeant.

He spent his academic career at Tennessee State University, where he served on the faculty of the College of Education and as a senior research scientist in the Center of Excellence in Information Systems. His research and teaching focused on content and literacy education, particularly on designing learning environments that foster students’ reading comprehension. He presented papers across the United States and in more than a dozen foreign countries and published more than 100 scholarly works in literacy and education journals, conference proceedings, and edited volumes.

Alvarez held leadership positions with the College Reading Association, serving as president from 1996 to 1997, and chaired the Action Research Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. He also served on editorial advisory boards for Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, The Reading Teacher, and the Journal of Literacy Research.

At Tennessee State, he became the first faculty member to receive professor emeritus status and the only to be awarded both the Teacher of the Year and Distinguished Researcher of the Year honors. He also received the President’s Award for Distinguished Service to the University and was twice named “Most Inspiring Teacher” by student vote.

His professional accolades include the Laureate Award for lifetime achievement from the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers, the Albert J. Mazurkiewicz Service Award from the College Reading Association, and a Certificate of Recognition from the Department of Education in the Republic of the Philippines.

Beyond his work in literacy, Alvarez has distinguished himself as a noted Sherlock Holmes scholar. He is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, an invitation-only society of 300 Sherlockian scholars worldwide, and has contributed essays to the Baker Street Journal. He is also the author of A Professor Reflects on Sherlock Holmes (2012) and an active member of international Sherlock Holmes societies.