Faculty Spotlight: Rick Wagner
Rick Wagner is a Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology, part of Florida State University’s College of Arts and Sciences. He joined FSU’s faculty as an assistant professor one year before earning his doctorate from Yale University in 1985, and he played a key role in the founding of the Florida Center for Reading Research, a world-class interdisciplinary reading research organization, in 2002. As an associate director of FCRR and principal investigator of the Wagner Lab, he examines causes and identification of and treatments for reading disorders in children, particularly dyslexia.
Tell us a little about your background and what brought you to FSU.
It took me a while to learn what I really wanted to do. My undergraduate degree was in vertebrate biology. During my senior year, I took an introductory psychology course and thought it was much more interesting than the part of biology I was studying. I graduated with a degree in biology, but I then looked for ways to move into psychology. I learned that if I took a few post-baccalaureate psychology classes, I could apply for a master’s program in school psychology, become a research assistant, and have my degree entirely paid for. I did that and eventually worked for two years as a school psychologist in Las Vegas, Nevada. Doing this gave me hands-on experience working with students who struggled with reading. I then applied to graduate programs and earned my doctorate in cognitive psychology. From a pool of job offers, I picked FSU because of shared research interests with some faculty members who were already here.
Can you break down your current areas of research for us?
I study dyslexia, which is a developmental disorder characterized by difficulty reading words on a page fluently. It can also affect spelling and writing. I am interested in how to best identify and help individuals who have dyslexia. The popular view among scientists and the public alike is that dyslexia is caused by a visual problem, or seeing things backwards. My work shows it actually stems from a problem in language processing. If you can hear how the spoken words “cat,” “rat,” and “hat” are the same and different, it is much easier to learn to read. They have different initial sounds but identical medial and final sounds, which are similarities and differences reflected in their spellings. A problem with this area of language makes it much more difficult to become a skilled reader.
What inspired you to choose your field of study?
My hands-on experiences working with students who have dyslexia influenced me to choose this as my field of study. The chance to not only make life better for them but also their families was a motivating factor and continually motivates me throughout my research.
Who are your role models? Are there certain people who have influenced you most in your life and career?
My doctoral adviser Robert J. Sternberg — then the IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale and presently a professor of psychology at Cornell University and an honorary professor of psychology at Heidelberg University in Germany — is certainly one. My colleagues who took me under their wing when I came to FSU were role models for me in my work life and career: FCRR director emeritus and professor emeritus Joseph Torgesen, professor emeritus James C. Smith, and professor emeritus Michael Rashotte.
What do you want the public to know about your research?
FSU is home to world-class researchers in just about any field you can imagine. Research is a team effort, and working with amazing colleagues makes the process that much better. FSU is home to one of only two multidisciplinary learning-disability research centers in the country funded by the National Institutes of Health, and we are able to get and keep the research center for over 15 years now because of the people we work with.
Tell us about how you became an associate director of the Florida Center for Reading Research.
I was in the right place at the right time. There was a potential donor who wanted to fund a center to study reading because his grandson had dyslexia. The provost drove Torgesen and me to Atlanta, Georgia, to meet him. The governor at the time, Jeb Bush, learned about the research on reading that was being done at FSU and decided he wanted this to be a state-funded effort rather than something that was only funded by a private donor.
Do you have any exciting upcoming projects or goals that you are currently working towards?
We have been working on a new way to identify individuals who are at risk for dyslexia that is made possible by the decades of research done at FSU on this disorder.
What is your best memory so far from working at FSU?
My best memories are of the many incredible students and colleagues I have had the opportunity to work with.
Tell us about earning the Robert O. Lawton award in 2009 and what it means to you.
The Robert O. Lawton award is the highest honor that is bestowed by one’s colleagues at FSU. That makes it incredibly special. Jim Smith was a champion for me in the process, as he knew Robert Lawton and was instrumental in having the award named in his honor. This made the experience even more rewarding.
If your students only learned one thing from you (of course, hopefully they learned much more than that), what would you hope it to be?
It is never too late to find your passion. My undergraduate degree was in the wrong field for me. I switched fields, spent time gaining real-world experience, then went back to graduate school before coming to FSU. It was not a straight path, but it was the one I was meant to take.