Frank Manis

Professor Frank Manis received his BA from Pomona College in 1975 and PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1981. He is a Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Southern California, where he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in developmental psychology and literacy development for 38 years. He has published about 70 articles and book chapters on child development, reading disabilities, development of literacy in both the primary and secondary language, and...See more

Professor Frank Manis received his BA from Pomona College in 1975 and PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1981. He is a Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Southern California, where he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in developmental psychology and literacy development for 38 years. He has published about 70 articles and book chapters on child development, reading disabilities, development of literacy in both the primary and secondary language, and cognitive functioning in special populations of children. Much of this work was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The major focus of his research has been on the identification of cognitive processes underlying differences in reading skills among children with reading disabilities. Frank reviews for several journals in the field, including Scientific Studies of Reading , Journal of Experimental Child Psychology , and Developmental Psychology , and was editor of Scientific Studies of Reading for six years. He is also the co-author of MyVirtualChild (with Mike Radford) and MyVirtualLife (with Janine Buckner) and author of MyVirtualTeen, interactive websites for simulating the process of child, adolescent, and adult development. Frank was a member of the University of Southern California's Center for Excellence in Teaching from 2006-2009, was a Dornsife Distinguished Faculty Fellow from 2011-2013, and received teaching, research, and service awards at his university in 2004 and 2012. See less