Iowa’s Susan Assouline Receives NAGC’s Ann F. Isaac’s Founders Memorial Award

Press Release

Media Contact: John Segota
Executive Director
202-785-4268
execdirector@nagc.org

For Immediate Release

Iowa’s Susan Assouline Receives NAGC’s Ann F. Isaac’s Founders Memorial Award

Washington, DC (November 14, 2024) – The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) is pleased to announce that Dr. Susan Assouline will receive the 2024 NAGC Ann F. Isaacs Founder’s Memorial Award for her distinguished service to NAGC and gifted children.

Assouline recently retired as a distinguished faculty member and school psychology professor at the University of Iowa’s College of Education, where she served as director of the internationally renowned Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development. While at Iowa, she also became the first woman in the College of Education to be designated as the Myron and Jacquelin N. Blank Endowed Chair in Gifted Education.

In making the announcement, NAGC President Shelagh Gallagher described Assouline as a lifelong contributor to the field of gifted and talented research and professional development.

“For over three decades, Dr. Assouline has served as a leader in the gifted education field, authoring innumerable books, reports, research articles, and book chapters.  She led one of the field's most influential centers.  Her work on the seminal reports A Nation Deceived and A Nation Empowered, which present the evidence supporting academic acceleration, helped shift education policies around the nation,” Gallagher noted. “Coupled with the countless hours she has served in support of NAGC’s mission, Dr. Assouline clearly serves as an exceptional example of commitment to the field. I will be honored to present her with the Ann Isaacs Founder’s Award in November.”

A prolific author and presenter, Assouline has written or coauthored countless books, chapters, and journal articles, and has presented multiple times at NAGC conventions and other gifted education conferences over her career. She has volunteered in various capacities for NAGC, including most recently serving on the Publications Committee and as the Association Editor from 2022-2024. She previously received NAGC’s Distinguished Scholar Award in 2016 for her significant contributions to the field and continuous record of distinguished scholarship.

“I am humbled by this honor and a little overwhelmed by the knowledge of who Ann Isaacs was and what she did for the organization, students, educators, and families,” said Assouline. “I will do my best to exemplify the service of the award’s namesake, as well as the service and commitment demonstrated by the many distinguished prior recipients of the award.”

The Isaacs Founder’s Memorial Awards is named after Ann F. Isaacs, who founded NAGC in 1954, served as charter president of the Association, and spent more than 30 years in the field, establishing two official journals, the Gifted Child Quarterly and the Creative Child and Adult Quarterly. Isaacs passed in 2001, and the first Memorial Award in her name was presented the following year.

Assouline will receive the award during the 2024 NAGC Annual Convention, which will be held November 21-24 in Seattle, Washington.

Download a copy of the press release here: 2024_nagc_founders_award_pre.pdf

About the National Association for Gifted Children

The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) is the nation’s leading organization focused on the needs of gifted and talented children. Dedicated to uplifting and empowering those who support children with advanced abilities, NAGC provides energizing professional learning, impactful research, and inspiring advocacy to allow its members to work collaboratively so that all children have equitable opportunities and support to develop their gifts and talents.