LAUREN LIANG

Lauren Aimonette Liang is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology in the College of Education, and the Director of the Quest Academic Learning Communities in Undergraduate Studies. She is also the co-director of the READ-U (Reading with Empathy, Awareness, and Depth with U) program. Dr. Liang’s research and teaching focuses on the selection and educational use of children's and adolescent literature, children's literature in teacher preparation and literacy programs, and text characteristics as related to student response and comprehension of texts.

Dr. Liang’s work has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and Journal of Children’s Literature, as well as in both professional and practitioner books. She is co-author of the widely used children’s literature textbook, Literature and the Child. In October 2026, her newest book, Literary Praxis: Teaching Children's Literature in Contemporary Society, will be published by Bloomsbury. Her popular book Courageous Conversations in the Classroom: Using Children’s Literature to Support Social and Emotional Growth, Positive Identity, and Mental Health, with Drs. Karen Tao and Michelle Hosp, was published in 2025 by Guilford Press.

Dr. Liang has served in multiple leadership positions for the Children's Literature Assembly, American Library Association, and the United States Board on Books for Young People. She has served on several prestigious children’s literature award committees, including chairing the 2020 Mildred L. Batchelder Award and the 2012 through 2016 International Literacy Association’s Children’s and Young Adult Book Awards Committees, and serving on the 2017 Caldecott Medal committee. Dr. Liang received the College of Education Faculty Teaching Award in 2009, the University of Utah Early Career Teaching Award in 2010, and was awarded the University Professorship in 2016-18.