Richard Sinatra, Ph.D.

Associate Dean, The School of Education and Department Chairperson
Department of Human Services and Counseling
Sullivan Hall, Room 411
Queens Campus
Phone (718) 990-1557
Fax (718) 990-7468
sinatrar@stjohns.edu

Office Hours
Mon - Thur: 2 - 4:30 p.m.
Sullivan Hall Rm. 411

Educational Background
B.A., 1960, Lafayette College, English
M.S., 1970, Hofstra University, Reading
Ph.D., 1972, Hofstra University, Reading/Administration & Supervision

Research
Areas of Specialization

  • The Reading and the Writing Process
  • Cognitive Mapping
  • Classroom Applications
  • Out-of-School time programs for at-risk students

Richard Sinatra is Professor, Director of the Reading and Writing Education Center, and Chairman of the Department of Human Services and Counseling at St. John’s University, Queens, New York.  He has been an educator for over 45 years, serving as an English teacher in the junior-high grades, a third-and fourth-grade teacher, a reading specialist, a district reading coordinator, and university literacy professor.  In 1972, he received his Ph.D. in Reading Education from Hofstra University and in the fall of 1976 he began his work at St. John’s as an Assistant Professor.  He has authored and co-authored books, book chapters and journal articles.  He has been a literary consultant to many school districts and has helped them achieve higher performance standards in reading and writing for mainstreamed and special students through all the grade levels. 

For the past 10 years, he has been the Project Director of the After-School All-Stars CampUs Project which provides literacy, computer, cultural, and athletic programs to thousands of housing development children from the five boroughs of New York City and for Homeless Children.  In 1987, he received the College Reading Educator Award given annually by NYS Reading Association, in the spring of 2000 he received the prestigious St. Vincent DePaul Teacher-Scholar award at St. John’s University and in May 2007, he received the “University Educator of the Year” from the Phi Delta Kappa Society.