Alliance for Catholic Education
Mike Macaluso, Senior Associate Director for Academic Advancement for Enrollment and Financial Aid, has been named senior editor of The ALAN Review, a peer-reviewed journal focused on the study, scholarship, research, and teaching of adolescent literature. Macaluso, along with his co-editors, Terri Suico (St. Mary’s College) and Christian Hines (Texas State University), will serve in this role for 5 years.
The ALAN Review (TAR) is the official, peer-reviewed journal of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English (ALAN). The ALAN Review is housed with the national, professional organization, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and is exclusively devoted to the research, scholarship, and teaching of literature for adolescents. The journal publishes high quality articles and resource materials that examine, critique, and advocate for young adult literature, its authors and its audiences, including critical commentaries about the field more broadly.
"The field of young adult literature has exploded in recent years and accounts for what adolescents read in and out of school during their formative years,” Macaluso said. “The ALAN Review engages scholars and educators in broad conversations about that literature, shaping how we—and our students!—might think about it, read it, and teach it or talk about it. Being at the center of those conversations provides an opportunity to not only be a resource but an inspiration as well in an ongoing and evolving conversation around a field about which so many of us feel so passionate! We received a number of high-quality and rigorous submissions for our first issue, all of which show the effects, benefits, and merit of researching literature for adolescents."
Macaluso's scholarship focuses on issues of teaching and learning in English classrooms, particularly around young adult literature and the relationships across literature, culture and representation, and literary instruction. He serves as chair of the Alexandria Award Committee, a new initiative aimed at fostering students' literacy and faith development through the advancement of contemporary literature.
Building on the outstanding work done by their predecessors, Macaluso, along with Suico and Hines, are taking the helm of The ALAN Review at a pivotal time. "I was incredibly honored to be chosen as Senior Editor of The ALAN Review, along with my close colleagues Terri and Christian. All previous editors of the journal have been long-established, well-respected scholars in the field. It's humbling to build upon their work and carry on this responsibility. At the same time, we are eager to oversee changes that will broaden its access and readership! It's an exciting time to lead this journal in particular!"
ALAN recently partnered with Cengage, an online academic database, to house all current and back issues in an open-access platform, giving readers access to past, present, and future articles and all that the journal has to offer.
"When I learned Mike and his team were named editors of The ALAN Review, I was thrilled but not surprised,” said John Staud, executive director of the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) at the University of Notre Dame. “From his own coursework and research, to The Alexandria Award initiative, to training ACE English teachers, to mentoring students' theses projects or presentations at the NCTE conference every year, Mike has really elevated ACE and the IEI as a hub for the teaching and study of adolescent literature. Recognition from The ALAN Review is just confirmation of the good work and national reputation Mike has garnered."
In his new role, Macaluso will support students and families as a bridge between the Enrollment Division and University Relations to advance Fr. Bob's Pathways to Notre Dame initiative of no-loan financial aid. He will also serve as a term faculty member and Fellow of the IEI as he will continue to teach for ACE in the summer and Education, Schooling, and Society (ESS) in the spring.
"ACE and the IEI will always be my academic home on campus, and I'm excited to use the skills and knowledge I've learned here in a new capacity for the betterment of Notre Dame as a whole. I see great resonance in the work I have been doing and the work I will do in this new role, as I work with other leaders across campus to provide more adolescents and their families the gift of a Notre Dame education."