Trites, Roberta Seelinger 1962-

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TRITES, Roberta Seelinger 1962-

PERSONAL: Born July 28, 1962, in Cincinnati, OH; daughter of Robert T. (a petroleum chemist) and Kathryn (a registered nurse; maiden name, Pitzer) Trites; married George F. Seelinger, May 20, 1991; children: George Henry, John Russell, Katharine Anne. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Texas A & M University, B.A., 1983; University of Texas—Dallas, M.A., 1985; Baylor University, Ph.D., 1991. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES: Home—Normal, IL. Offıce—Department of English, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4240; fax: 309-438-7198. E-mail—seeling@ ilstu.edu.

CAREER: Central Texas College, Killeen, instructor in communication, 1988-89; Austin Community College, Austin, TX, instructor in English, 1989; Illinois State University, Normal, assistant professor, 1991-97, associate professor, 1997-2001, professor of English, 2001—, associate dean of College of Arts and Sciences, 1998-2002, interim dean, College of Arts and Science, 2002—, faculty associate of Center for the Advancement of Teaching, 1998.

MEMBER: Modern Language Association of America, Children's Literature Association (member of executive board, 1998-2001; member of board of directors), Midwest Modern Language Association (chairperson of Young Adult Literature Section, 1998).

AWARDS, HONORS: Christine Fall Teaching Award, Baylor University, 1990; Illinois State University grants, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996; Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children's Novels was cited among Outstanding Academic Books of 1997 by American Library Association; Illinois State University College of Arts and Sciences, Distinguished Teaching Award (Senior), Humanities Division, 1997; Teacher Recognition Award, Sigma Tau Delta, 1998, 1999; named Outstanding University Teacher, Illinois State University, 2000; Children's Literature Association Book Award, 2000, for Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature.

WRITINGS:

Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children's Novels, University of Iowa Press (Iowa City, IA), 1997.

Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature, University of Iowa Press (Iowa City, IA), 2000.

Contributor to Little Women and the Feminist Imagination, edited by Beverly Lyon Clark and Janice Alberghene, Garland Publishing (New York, NY), 1998. Contributor of articles and reviews to scholarly journals, including African American Review, Five Owls, American Book Review, Lion and the Unicorn, English Journal, Children's Literature in Education, and Journal of Popular Film and Television. Guest editor, Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 1996.

SIDELIGHTS: In her study Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature, Roberta Seelinger Trites argues that adolescent novels are less about teenagers discovering themselves as they come of age than they are about young people trying to find their place in the power structures of their society. Bette Ammon, writing in the School Library Journal, called Disturbing the Universe "a complicated, detailed, and intellectual analysis." Hazel Rochman, in Booklist, found that Trites's "consideration of landmark books—The Chocolate War, Lyddie, Nothing but the Truth, Arilla Sun Down, and more—is thought provoking."

Trites once told CA: "I write about feminism and children because I care passionately about empowering marginalized people."