Two University of Arkansas at Little Rock professors have been selected as co-editors of a national journal. 

Dr. Judith Hayn, professor of teacher education, and Dr. Paul Crutcher, assistant professor of English, are the new co-editors of SIGNAL Journal, a peer-reviewed journal associated with the International Literacy Association’s Special Interest Group-Network on Adolescent Literature (SIGNAL). The journal publishes articles, essays, and reviews about varying aspects of young adult literature.  

Crutcher and Hayn recently published the first edition of the journal under their editorship. The Spring/Summer 2018 issue featured an article about literature and literary practices in transmedia pop culture authored by Crutcher and Dr. Autumn Dodge of Lynchburg University. Hayn wrote the journal’s introduction as well as three young adult book reviews. Ashley Collie-Heather, an adjunct professor in the Department of English, designed the issue.

Hayn joined UA Little Rock in 2006 as an assistant professor. She also serves on VOYA Magazine’s Nonfiction Honors Committee. VOYA Magazine is a library journal dedicated to young adult literature and reading. In 2017, Hayn was awarded an AERA (American Educational Research Association, Division K) award for her book chapter, “Teaching, Affirming and Recognizing Trans and Gender Creative Youth D,” and was also featured in the HuffPost article, “How High School Teachers are using Dystopian Books to Explore the State of America Today.”

Crutcher joined UA Little Rock in 2013. He is currently writing a book chapter, “Xenophobic pandas, pop culture, and how empathy can change education.” Last year, Crutcher received a $15,900 grant from the Freeman Foundation to teach the Consortium for Teaching about Asia program to Arkansas teachers, a multi-year initiative to encourage and facilitate teaching and learning about East Asia in elementary and secondary schools nationwide.