Angela S. Rutherford is Professor in the Department of Teacher Education, as well as Director of the Center for Excellence in Literacy Instruction (CELI) and the Region 7 Comprehensive Center Mississippi Coordinator. Dr. Rutherford received her Ph.D. in Reading Education from Auburn University in 2003. She has extensive K-12 experience in Mississippi and Alabama where she taught reading and mathematics in many different grades. Dr. Rutherford taught at Mississippi University for Women prior to coming to Ole Miss in 2004. Dr. Rutherford teaches undergraduate reading education courses. Dr. Rutherford secured two 5-year private foundation grants for $3 million within the Center for Excellence in Literacy Instruction (CELI). She has more than 30 years of experience in public education. She has actively served on numerous national, regional, state, and local committees and task forces focused on ensuring that students receive equitable access to effective teachers and leaders and that schools engage with communities in supporting their students' achievement. Her degrees are from Auburn University (Ph.D. in Reading Education) and the University of Southern Mississippi (M.Ed. in Educational Administration and Supervision and B.S. in Elementary Education). As Director of the Center for Excellence in Literacy Instruction (CELI) over the last 15 years, Dr. Rutherford has served as principal investigator on many different grant awards. She has secured approximately $9.5 million in funding across a myriad of projects. These different projects focus on providing K-12 students' access to effective teachers, resources, and opportunities so that they are successful learners across the areas of school readiness, summer learning, and community engagement to include engaging college students as volunteer literacy and early childhood teachers or tutors. In her work with the MS Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, she provides technical support to communities that seek to rally around schools to ensure that children read on grade level by the end of grade three. She serves on the Mississippi Reading Panel, the Mississippi Early Reading Policy Team, and the REL Southeast Governing Board. She is a nationally-certified trainer of Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS). She was appointed in 2021 to serve on the Mississippi State Early Childhood Advisory Council by Governor Tate Reeves and volunteered to serve on the Family Support and Access subcommittee.