Purdue’s Marcia Gentry to receive 2022 NAGC President’s Award
Marcia Gentry, Director of GER2I & Professor of Educational Studies
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – Purdue University’s Marcia Gentry and her passion for pioneering work and continued leadership in the field of gifted and talented education will be honored with the 2022 President’s Award from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC).
Gentry, a professor in the College of Education’s Department of Educational Studies, serves as the Executive Director of Purdue’s Gifted Education Research & Resource Institute (GER2I). NAGC President Lauri Kirsch nominated Gentry for the award.
Gentry thanked NAGC president Lauri Kirsch, President-Elect Shelagh Gallagher, the NAGC Board, her faculty colleagues, graduate students, and family.
“It has been my distinct honor to serve in the field of gifted education and to contribute efforts to a field that can become more equitable and socially just,” Gentry said. “We have much work to be done in our field, but I am heartened by the attempts to strengthen and expand opportunities and support for students from all demographic groups and diverse populations. I have been so grateful to work in this field and do work that is personally meaningful. This President’s award, in particular, means so very much to me.”
The President’s Award is given annually by the current NAGC president, who chooses recipients based on their significant contributions to the field of gifted and talented education.
“I can think of no one more deserving to receive this prestigious award than Dr. Marcia Gentry,” said NAGC President Dr. Lauri Kirsch. “Marcia’s contributions to the field of gifted and talented education are so immense and enduring that they are difficult to measure, but I know I speak on behalf of the entire Association when I say that we are incredibly thankful for her tireless efforts to help improve the lives of our most vulnerable and underserved gifted and talented children through her renowned research and mentorship. Marcia has surely helped pave the way for our next generation of gifted and talented practitioners and researchers to succeed.”
Dr. Gentry has made many contributions to the field of gifted education. Most recently, she, colleagues, and graduate students completed the most comprehensive look at access, equity, and missingness in gifted programs nationally and by state in a report they titled Access Denied/System Failure, https://education.purdue.edu//geri/new-publications/gifted-education-in-the-united-states/. She served as the NAGC Chair Special Interest Group (SIG) on Native American/Alaskan Native/Indigenous People 2016-2018. She has served as the executive director of the Gifted Education Research & Resource Institute (GER2I) in Purdue University’s College of Education since 2008 and has been a professor of Educational Studies at Purdue since 2004. Besides working with NAGC, she has been involved in a variety of associations working with giftedness, such as the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the Indiana Dept. of Education, Minnesota State University, the Michigan Alliance for Gifted Education, and the Indiana Association for the Gifted. In 2014 Gentry received the prestigious NAGC Distinguished Scholar Award. Recently, she graduated her 26th doctoral student from Purdue. She says working with doctoral students is the best part of her job.
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The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) is a membership organization whose mission is to support those who enhance the growth and development of gifted and talented children through education, advocacy, community building, and research.
Writer: DeEtte Starr, starrd@purdue.edu
Photo provided by the Purdue University College of Education