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The Bob and Judy Charles Endowed Chair of Education is deepening work in rural Colorado

Bob and Judy Charles

Last year, Elizabeth Dutro was appointed to the Bob and Judy Charles Endowed Chair in Education —calling it one of the greatest milestones of her career. 

That’s saying a lot for Dutro, a nationally respected expert in humanizing literacy teaching and learning. Her scholarship has earned national awards from the National Council of Teachers of English and esteemed university honors including the Provost Faculty Achievement Award, Boulder Faculty Assembly Teaching Excellence Award and Best Should Teach Award. 

Dutro, who joined the 91��ý School of Education in 2005, is renowned for her dedicated mentorship of students and colleagues and her thoughtful partnerships with teachers. The Charles Chair buttresses her important work, which explores how 22 difficult life experiences can inform literacy instruction that centers students’ knowledge, and her partnerships with teachers to create learning opportunities that enrich their classroom practice. 

“Over the years, I have witnessed with admiration how this chair has empowered colleagues and mentors I deeply respect and admire to advance their scholarship, foster meaningful partnerships with schools and communities, and support opportunities for doctoral students,” Dutro said. “It is truly humbling to step into this role and continue building upon their legacy.” 

Her recent project, Designing Responsive Literacy Instruction with Rural Elementary Educators, with literacy studies doctoral student Olivia Cox, builds collaborative relationships with rural educators in Strasburg, Colorado. The project supports locally grounded professional learning tailored to community needs. 

Dutro’s work in eastern Colorado reflects a shared passion with Bob Charles, who with his wife Judy endowed the School of Education’s only active faculty chair in 2004. Charles’ interest in supporting rural teachers was inspired by Judy, an education alumna devoted to teaching and volunteering. 

“I know how much Judy loved teaching—it was in her blood—and I’ve always respected the work teachers do,” Charles explained. 

He is passionate about opportunities to strengthen rural education, and he resists the idea that online learning can replace in-person teaching. 

“Nothing compares to having a teacher sit down with a student and go over the work face-to-face,” he said. “I have just always felt the rural students are not getting the education they are entitled to.”

That mission resonates with Dutro, whose rural roots in La Junta, Colorado, go back five generations on her maternal side. When she visits Southeast Colorado, she is not known as “Professor Dutro” but as her mother’s daughter or one of the many Klein cousins.

“Bob Charles’ commitment to supporting education research in rural Colorado deeply resonates with me,” Dutro said. “A few years ago, I achieved a long-held goal of expanding my research to a rural region of the state … that builds on my deep ties to rural Colorado.” 

The five-year chair appointment supports Dutro’s work with rural educators and future education scholars with similar goals.