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Texas Panhandle Librarians' Symposium

Keynote: Faculty Panel

Kelly M. Hoppe - Moderator Associate Director/Head of Outreach and Instruction
Photograph of Kelly M. Hoppe                                                             Kelly is in her 33rd year in education and her eighth year as an academic librarian. Currently, she is the Associate Director/Head of Outreach and Instruction at Cornette Library, West Texas A&M University. Prior to becoming an academic librarian, she was a K12 educator where she taught mostly 6th, 7th and 8th grade Language Arts before becoming a school librarian for 14 years. During that time, she served on the Texas School Library Standards Revision Steering Committee and has written numerous articles about school librarianship. She is the Past Chair of the Texas Library Association (TLA) Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) and is the Chair-Elect of the College and University Division (CULD) of TLA. Areas of interest include making the HS to College transition smoother for students and K12/Academic library collaborations.  To that end, she works on collaborative projects with school librarians and WTAMU Education Department faculty such as the fall 2023 program School Librarians: The Missing Piece which was a program for preservice teachers at WTAMU to learn about collaborating with their campus librarian and then went on to write about this experience in the article School and Academic Librarians: Cultivating Collaboration which was published in the 2023 Winter edition of Texas Library Journal. This collaborative group is currently working on a children’s literature symposium for preservice teachers which will take place in the fall of 2024.  In addition to these things, Kelly presents at conferences as a way to challenge herself and grow as a professional and as a way to give back to the profession. Kelly practices yoga and enjoys walking the fine line between dispelling and embracing the common librarian stereotypes. 
Dr. Betty Coneway Dr. Geneva Schaeffer Professor of Education and Social Sciences
Photograph of Dr. Betty Coneway Dr. Betty Coneway currently serves as the Department Head for Education at West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) in Canyon, TX. Dr. Coneway is a professor of Early Childhood and Literacy Education and teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in literacy and early childhood education.  She is a former early childhood classroom teacher and district curriculum specialist with 30+ years of experience in education. During her time as a curriculum specialist, one of her responsibilities was overseeing district-level library programming. Her research interests include writing development, early childhood intervention, teacher education, and dyslexia diagnosis and intervention.
Dr. Jennifer C. Denham Instructor of Education, WTAMU
Photograph of Dr. Jennifer C. Denham

Professional Profile
Dr. Denham joined the College of Education and Social Sciences in 2019 after working in special education for 11 years. She received her B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies in 2014 from WTAMU, a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction with a certification as a Reading Specialist in 2017, A Master of Education in Educational Diagnostician in 2018, and a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership in 2022.
Teaching and Related Service
Dr. Denham teaches Children with Special Needs and the Science of Teaching Reading. She also grades assignments for PACE (WTAMU’s Alternative Educator Certification Program).
Dr. Denham also holds a national certification with the Academic Language Therapy Association as a certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) and is a member of ALTA’s Higher Education Committee. She is a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, Kappa Delta Pi, the National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET), and the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).