Donna Alvermann is Distinguished Research Professor of Language and Literacy Education at The University of Georgia. Formerly a classroom teacher and assistant principal, Alvermann's research focuses on youth's multiple literacies in and out of school.

From 1992 to1997 she co-directed the National Reading Research Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement. She is currently a member of the 2009 NAEP Reading Framework Planning Committee and editor of Reading Research Quarterly.

Her books include Content Reading and Literacy: Succeeding in Today's Diverse Classrooms(4th ed.); Reconceptualizing the Literacies in Adolescents' Lives; Bridging the Literacy Achievement Gap, Grades 4-12; and Adolescents and Literacies in a Digital World.

Alvermann has been president of the National Reading Conference (NRC), co-chair of the International Reading Association's Commission on Adolescent Literacy, associate editor of the Journal of Literacy Research, and a member of the Rand Reading Study Group. She was elected to the Reading Hall of Fame in 1999, and is the recipient of NRC's Oscar S. Causey Award for Outstanding Contributions to Reading Research.