Rita Littrell

Background

About Rita Littrell

Rita Littrell, Ph.D: Rita has fourteen years experience as a classroom teacher, economic education coordinator, gifted education coordinator, and school administrator before transitioning to higher education as a professor and center director. Rita loves to learn, create and solve problems. She is currently looking for a new learning opportunity and challenge. Rita has developed an array of economic education curriculum projects that won national awards. Teaching awards and recognitions include Outstanding Young Educator, Phi Delta Kappa Educational Leadership Award, 6 National Council on Economic Education Awards, and National Federation of Independent Business Award for Entrepreneurship Education. Rita developed economic education curricula taught in Aga Khan Schools in India and Pakistan. She traveled to Russia, Lithuania and Latvia to learn about their schools and economic education programs. This reciprocal program resulted in eight teams of economic educators visiting the Moore Center from Russia, The Ukraine, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Paraguay and South Africa. Since 2004 she has served as the Director of the Bessie B. Moore Center for Economic Education at the University of Arkansas. The Bessie B. Moore Center for Economic Education conducts training programs for educators in economics, decision making, and youth entrepreneurship. Programs include Maker to Market, Lemonade Day, College Decision Choices, and more. Rita developed a youth entrepreneurship curriculum for middle school students entitled Entrepreneurship: Arkansas Style. Dr. Littrell enjoys working with educators and teaching undergraduates - both give her the opportunity to grow and develop as a professional. Follow her blog on entrepreneurship education:https://startupculture.uark.edu/ Check out projects created for teachers with the help of her undergraduate students. Parks and Tourism in the Natural State: An Economic Driver. https://sites.google.com/view/arkansashistorypd/home and Celebrating Arkansas: People - Resources - Industry - Diversity - Entrepreneurs - https://sites.google.com/view/celebratingarkansas/presentations In her free time, Rita enjoys butterfly gardening, spending time with her family, cooking, and entertaining. She created the Butterfly Nanny program at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks. She is a certified scuba diver, likes to snow ski and enjoys sailing. She collects international friends who enrich her life tremendously! She also collects children’s books and cook books. She loves to travel and learn about different cultures.