Dr. Stairs earned her B.A. in English from Colby College and her M.Ed. and Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Boston College. Before teaching at UT, she taught seventh-grade English language arts; ninth-grade Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID); and tenth, eleventh, and twelfth-grade English in New Hampshire and Colorado. She also worked as a literacy coach in Boston Public Schools and a literacy consultant with New England Educational Consultants.
