By REBECCA DEVERNOE
Contributing Writer
An associate professor and department chair of teacher education who is an expert in literacy and former elementary teacher. Elizabeth Yanoff, a college professor, academic advisor and chair of the education department, works as a literacy teacher and hopes to see her students succeed as they pursue education degrees.
Yanoff divides her time between two sets of duties: as a professor and an administrator. Her teaching style consists of power-points, hand-on materials, and discussing in a group. Through these techniques, she hopes student learn the material, but also learn to communicate and work with one another.
“Dr. Yanoff is fantastic,” Nick Rivera, a Saint Rose student says, “she really knows what she’s doing; really incorporates peer conversation and interaction and it’s great because we [students] learn so much from each other.”
Yanoff is also an academic adviser to students majoring in education. She is required to meet with students on Advisement day and is available by appointment.
Yanoff sees herself as an advocate for the student when she serves in her advisor role; someone to complain to. Academic Advisors don’t make decisions for the student. They help lay out different options such as class schedule and major, and help them out with scheduling and planning up to graduation.
Along with chairing her department and teaching classes, Yanoff is also obligated to join various campus committees, required to do research and present what she knows to the education department. Yanoff’s responsibilities include teaching one or two courses each semester, attending department meetings, school meetings once a month, full faculty meetings, advisement day, and attendance at graduation.
“Dr. Yanoff is great to work with,” Christina Pfister, an associate professor says. “She’s always on top of whatever issues we are discussing as a department and she makes sure she follows through with everything.”
As chair, Yanoff organizes and chairs bi-weekly department meetings to keep the school of education faculty informed of any information they need to know from the administration. Her duties consist of taking the lead in following up on any changes the department members would like to make to the programs, including communicating with the New York State Education Department, along with organizing the schedule of classes.
“Dr. Yanoff is excellent in her role as department Chair,” says Patricia Baldwin, an associate professor. “I believe she is one of the most organized people I have ever met!”
Yanoff is very involved in the community. She is a part of the New York State Reading Association for Literary Specialists and a chairman of Skribbler’s Writing, a children’s non-profit magazine for child writers and artists. As a chair of Skribbler’s, Yanoff runs the board meetings and makes sure everyone follows the rules and regulations of the non-profit. Yanoff delivers Skribbler’s issues to schools and helps out at open mic and gallery shows when writers and artists visit the schools.
Yanoff was drawn to academia and the College of Saint Rose specifically by the small, safe campus, the hard-working faculty, and the opportunity to work with many students. It is accurate that Yanoff said the strong education program at Saint Rose attracted her to the small campus, which she finds appealing. She was so attracted to the small school, which enables her to know each of her students.
In 1992, Yanoff became an associate teacher at Media-Providence Friends School in Pennsylvania, where she taught Kindergarten and at an extended day program. In 1993, she became a teacher at the Charles W. Henry School in Philadelphia where she taught third and fourth grade. She also was a substitute teacher at the Caring Place in Urbana, IL. where she taught infants to elementary school-aged children. From 1994 to 1996, Yanoff taught 4-year-olds to first grade at the Creative Discovery School in Champaign, IL. From 1996-1999, she taught third and fourth grade at Leal School in Urbana, IL.
Yanoff became a college professor and worked as a research assistant at the University of Albany until 2003. In 2006, she became a contingent faculty member at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs and taught reading. Starting in 2005, Yanoff started off as a contingent faculty member at Saint Rose in the Thelma P. Lally school of Education. In 2007, Yanoff became a lecturer at UAlbany. Yanoff joined Saint Rose in 2009, and became an assistant professor in the Education Department. Yanoff enjoyed both college and primary teaching. However, there are many differences. Pre-school is more focused on the classroom. College is more focused on teaching.
Yanoff earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology Education at Swarthmore in Pennsylvania in 1992. She later received her Master’s degree in reading at the University of Illinois in 1997. In 2004, she received her Certificate of Advanced Study in reading and her Ph.D. in reading in 2007 at the University at Albany.
Yanoff found reading interesting as a child, and it became her passion. During her childhood, she would always hang out at the school library or the old book store in her town. She was fascinated with the way children learned to read and wants to share the love of reading with children.
“I get to experience things [through reading] that I don’t get to experience in real life,” says Yanoff. She loves to read fantasy, but since she’s a college professor, she has to expand her horizons and read different genres such as sci-fi, fiction, poetry, and drama. “I make sure I read a variety of different things,” she says.
Yanoff grew up in a small rural community of Marengo, IL. “Many families lived on farms or had parents who worked at local factories,” she says. Her high school graduating class consisted of around 100 students. Yanoff’s father was a band director at her high school.
Yanoff, 49, got married in Illinois before moving to Niskayuna with her husband 18 years ago. He started working at GE and she started grad school at UAlbany. They have two children; an 18-year-old daughter who is a Freshmen at Russel Sage and a 15-year-old son who is a sophomore at Niskayuna High School.
“She’s very humorous,” says Nick Rivera. “At least to me, every lecture seems to just fly by.”
