Dr. Michael Sampson is a Fulbright Scholar and an American children's author best known for easy-to-read books that feature rhythmic and repetitive language. Sampson's first children's book, The Football That Won, was written solo in 1992 and illustrated by Ted Rand. Later, Sampson wrote 21 books with his best friend and mentor Bill Martin, Jr., including Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 and The Bill Martin Jr Big Book of Poetry. Sampson taught at Texas A&M University–Commerce for 25 years before moving to the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. In August 2010, he was selected as Dean of the School of Education at Southern Connecticut State University. In July 2012, he became Dean of the College of Education at Northern Arizona University. In the summer of 2014, he moved to New York City to become Dean of the School of Education at St. John's University. In 2021–2022, he taught at a university in Europe as a Fulbright Scholar.

Early life

Born in Denison, Texas, to Roy and Ida Faye Sampson, Sampson studied in the Denison public schools until grade three, at which time his family (brothers Bill and Bryan and sister Patsy) moved to Tom Bean, Texas. He had written a series of books featuring Frank and Joe of The Hardy Boys fame, and even had a poem published in a national magazine. During summers, he worked as a lumberjack in Damariscotta, Maine. Sampson played football during middle school and high school. As a senior, he was a captain on the Tom Bean Tomcats football team, where he won the school's academic award and was named to the Class B Texas State All Star Team.

Education

During high school, Michael Sampson won a scholarship to East Texas State University, where he earned a degree in 1974 in Political Science with a teaching endorsement. He became a teacher in the Commerce public schools, where he taught grades K-3; 4, and 6. During this time he attended evening classes, earning a Master of Sciences degree in Reading. He left Texas for Arizona in 1977 to enroll in the Ph.D. program at the University of Arizona. He completed his Ph.D. in Reading in 1980.

Collaboration with Bill Martin Jr

Michael Sampson met children's author and educator Bill Martin Jr at a reading conference in Tucson, Arizona in 1978. Within five years, the two had built the conferences into the Pathways to Literacy Conference, with sites in 12 American cities. For the next 12 years, Sampson and Martin wrote daily, author twenty-one children's books. Speaking of his writing partner, Sampson said: "Poetry allowed him to become a reader – if he could hear it, he could read it. And as a writer, Bill worked with his ear. How his writing sounded was the most important thing. Poetry was his mentor. It inspired and guided him."

Later life

After his tenure as a professor at Texas A&M University–Commerce. Sampson left for full-time writing and consulting in 2004. He made visits across the United States and countries in South America and Eastern and Western Europe, including Italy, Great Britain, Germany and Ukraine. In 2007, Sampson returned to academia to teach writing and research at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. In 2010 Sampson became Dean of the School of Education at Southern Connecticut State University. In July 2012, he became dean of the College of Education at Northern Arizona University. Since 2014, he has lived and worked at St. John's University in New York City. In the spring of 2020, Sampson was named by the US Department of State as a Fulbright Scholar to Ukraine for 2021. His assignment was delayed by the COVID-19 Pandemic until Fall 2021, where he taught at Oles Honchar Dnipro National University and Alfred Nobel University. He was evacuated from Ukraine due to the Russian invasion in Feb 2022 to Warsaw, where he continued to support Ukraine through his works.

Awards

Published Works

Children's book

Academic publications