College of Education Reading Room Named in Honor of Late Professor Emeritus Orlando Saa

Saa reading room is a specialized facility with digital recording equipment designed to provide future reading specialists with feedback on their work

(From left) Marietta Dargan, niece of Orlando and Lorraine Saa; Lorraine Saa; and Candace Burns, dean of the College of Education

Friends, relatives and colleagues gathered earlier this semester to celebrate the dedication of the Dr. Orlando Saa Reading Room in the University’s College of Education Reading Clinic located at Valley Road in honor of the late Orlando Saa, professor emeritus of languages and cultures.   The room was named following a gift from his wife, Lorraine Cuttillo-Saa, in memory of her husband, who died in 2013.

The Dr. Orlando Saa Reading room is a specialized facility featuring state-of-the-art digital recording equipment designed to provide future reading specialists with feedback on the success of their reading work with children.

“The dedication of the reading room in honor of Dr. Saa celebrated his profound impact on all who knew him,” says Candace Burns, dean of the College of Education. “We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Lorraine, a former high school English, Latin and ESL teacher, for her generous and important contribution to current and future academic success of the children we serve in memory of her husband. Her gift has made it possible to assist 20 children with the services of certified reading specialists, who provide expert diagnosis and support to children and their families, and who share their expertise with reading specialists in training.   There is a great need for specialized reading assistance for children, as the Clinic has a waiting list of over 100 students.”

Saa, who joined the University faculty in 1974, was a beloved faculty member who continued to teach after his retirement in 2010.  In 1983, he helped to establish the Department of Languages and Cultures’ annual Poetry Recitation Contest, which brings hundreds of middle and high school students to campus to recite poems in eight languages; the contest was renamed in his honor upon his retirement.  The Saas also endowed the first scholarship for students majoring in Spanish, the Maria Saa and Marieta Cutillo Family Scholarship, named in honor of their mothers.