Linder Joins Illinois Public Media as Education Outreach Coordinator

Suzanne Linder, an English teacher at Urbana’s University Laboratory High School for 17 years, will join the staff of Illinois Public Media Aug. 18 as education outreach coordinator.

Linder has also been a University of Illinois Writing Project teacher consultant for the past two years, coordinating professional development conferences for local teachers. Her work for her master’s degree in speech communication from the University of Illinois focused of the effect of media on young children. She presents regularly at the annual conference of the National Council for Teachers of English.

As education outreach coordinator, Linder will oversee Illinois Public Media’s Book Mentor Project and its Ready To Learn project to extend resources to help families support early math and literacy for kids in Champaign County during the next 18 months. WILL-TV, jointly with WSIU-TV in Carbondale and WTVP-TV in Peoria, received a $105,264 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS.

“I’m excited for the opportunity to work in a larger classroom with a wider range of students, and look forward to building collaborative relationships with Illinois educators,” Linder said.

Linder will work with Kimberlie Kranich, Illinois Public Media’s community content and engagement director, to expand educational service across the region with university, public media and other community partners. She will also help train teachers across the state to use Illinois Edition of PBS LearningMedia, a free digital resource to support curriculum-based learning from Pre-K through 12th grade.

“Suzanne will be an inspired and inspiring member of our education team and we are glad to have her,” Kranich said. “Her experience and the respect she enjoys as a teacher, combined with her community and professional connections, will help us serve a broad range of Pre-K through high school constituents.”