William Visco, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at The University of Akron, where he began in 2020 after earning his doctorate from The University of North Texas. Before that he was a high school English teacher in both Florida and Texas for over 15 years teaching all grade and ability levels. Dr. Visco’s current research focuses on student/teacher perceptions of popular culture usage in the English classroom and training pre-service teachers to effectively use pop culture and technology to motivate, enhance, and improve student's literacy learning and as a way to develop social emotional learning practices to benefit all. Most recently he is the recipient of the 2023 Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts Outstanding Educator of the English Language Arts award. 

At the University of Akron Dr. Visco supervises ELA student teaching as well as the UA/Barberton School District Clinical Experience known as P.I.E.C.E.S. (Pre-Service In-School Educational Collaborative Experiences with Students). In addition, he teaches Techniques in Teaching AYA ELA, Content Area Literacy, and other education courses in the undergraduate and master's program.

When not presenting, researching, or teaching Dr. Visco enjoys traveling and has been to over 22 countries and 42 states and is co-teaching a class in Ireland for Akron students this summer. He also enjoys playing sports with his kids (Luke and London), watching movies, listening to music, and reading.