This past week in Denver, our Research Associate, Stacy Hayden was honored at the 68th Annual National Association for Gifted Children Convention. Stacy was awarded the Carolyn Callahan Doctoral Student Award. Doctoral students are nominated by faculty members at their university. The award is presented to doctoral students who have demonstrated exemplary work in research, publications, and educational service and have a potential for future scholarship.
In one of the recommendation letters, Stacy’s professor commented:
"As I have worked so closely with Stacy, I am in an excellent position to comment on her numerous academic, as well as her many personal strengths. She is an extremely dependable person with strong character and integrity. I believe her to be a superlative doctoral student, one in whom I have great confidence for strong future productivity in our field. Stacy seeks to be a force for positive change, has outstanding interpersonal skills, and works extremely well with others. I would be remiss if I did not comment on her many and varied fine personal qualities. She is an incredibly diligent worker who is motivated to excel. She is an independent thinker who is both personable and highly respected. She has exceptional abilities to complete independent work and is committed to a future in gifted education. She will be a superb recipient of the NAGC Doctoral Student Award."
Stacy is currently finishing her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology: Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent Development. Her dissertation is on perceptions of academic risk-taking among college honors students.
Stacy and other National Association for Gifted Children awardees who are alumni of or currently at the University of Connecticut. From left to right: Stacy Hayden, Shaffer Evaluation Group; Carla Brigandi, West Virginia University; Del Siegle, University of Connecticut; E. Jean Gubbins, University of Connecticut; MaryGrace Stewart, Massachusetts Association for Gifted Education.