The MENSA Education and Research Foundation Honors Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska
Summary
Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mensa Education and Research Foundation for her vast contributions to the field of intelligence in a ceremony preceding the National Association of Gifted Children Convention in New Orleans.
Full Description
Dr. VanTassel-Baska initiated and directed the Center
for Talent Development at Northwestern
University. She has served as the state director of
gifted programs for Illinois;
as a regional 
director of a gifted service center in the Chicago area; as coordinator of gifted
programs for the Toledo, Ohio Public school system; and as a teacher
of gifted high school students in English and Latin. She has worked as a consultant on gifted
education in all 50 states and for key national groups, including the U.S. Department
of Education and the American Association of School Administrators. Her efforts extend across the globe, as she
has worked as a consultant in Australia,
New Zealand,
Hungary,
Jordan,
Singapore,
and the United Arab Emirates.
Dr. VanTassel-Baska is credited with a number of publications, including 20 books and more than 345 refereed journal articles, book chapters, and scholarly reports. Recent books include: Comprehensive Curriculum for Gifted Education (3rd Edition) (2006) (with Tamra Stambaugh), Curriculum for Gifted Students (2004), and Curriculum Planning and Instructional Design for Gifted Learners (2003). She also served as the Editor of Gifted and Talented International, a publication of the World Council on Gifted and Talented, from 1998–2005.
VanTassel-Baska retired as the Jody and Layton Smith Professor of Education and Executive Director of the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary, where she developed a graduate program and a research and development center in gifted education. She is past president of The Association for the Gifted (a division of the Council for Exceptional Children), the Northwestern University Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, and the National Association for Gifted Children.
In addition to this lifetime achievement award, VanTassel-Baska has received numerous honors for her work, including the National Association of Gifted Children Distinguished Scholar Award in 1997, the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award in 1993, and the Phi Beta Kappa faculty award in 1995. She was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to New Zealand in 2000 and a visiting scholar to Cambridge University in England in 1993. Her major research interests are on the talent development process and effective curricular interventions with the gifted. She holds B.A., M.A., M. Ed., and Ed.D. degrees from the University of Toledo.
The Mensa Foundation Lifetime Achievement award is presented to an individual for an exceptional body of work that contributes to the field of intelligence research. Individuals who receive this prestigious award are champions of intelligence and are consistently working toward how best to use the data that their research yields for the betterment of society.
Since 1971, the Mensa Education & Research Foundation has been a strong voice in supporting intelligence. The Foundation fosters the best and brightest through scholarships and awards and encourages research and intellectual inquiry through the Mensa Research Journal and various Colloquiums. Governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees, the Mensa Foundation is a
501c(3) organization and is funded by support from American Mensa, Mensa members, and other charitable donations. To learn more about the Foundation, log on to www.mensafoundation.org. For more information about American Mensa, log on to www.us.mensa.org.
