Author Bio
Joseph Renzulli is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Connecticut, where he also serves as director of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. His research has focused on the identification and development of creativity and giftedness in young people, and on organizational models and curricular strategies for differentiated learning environments that contribute to total school improvement. A focus of his work has been on applying the pedagogy of gifted education to the improvement of learning for all students.
His most recent books include the second edition of The Schoolwide Enrichment Model, The Multiple Menu Model for Developing Differentiated Curriculum, The Parallel Curriculum Model, and the second edition of Enriching Curriculum for All Students. His 1978 article entitled called What Makes Giftedness has been cited as the most frequently referenced article in the field. Dr. Renzulli is the author of more than 380 articles in professional journals, books, chapters in books, and numerous technical reports. He has been awarded more than $35 million in research grants, $1.3 million in personnel training grants, and $3.7 million in grants and endowments to support direct service programs for students and teachers.
Dr. Renzulli is Fellow in the American Psychological Association, a former president of the Association for the Gifted, and he has served on the editorial boards of Learning Magazine, the Journal of Law and Education, Exceptionality, and most of the national and international journals dealing with gifted education. He was a consultant to the White House Task Force on Education of the Gifted and Talented, has worked with numerous schools and ministries of education throughout the U. S. and abroad. His work has been translated into several languages and is widely used around the world. His most recent work is a computer-based assessment of student strengths integrated with an Internet based search engine that matches enrichment activities and resources with individual student profiles.
Dr. Renzulli was designated a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor at the University of Connecticut in 2000, and in 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. The American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology named Dr. Renzulli among the 25 most influential psychologists in the world. He lists as his proudest professional accomplishment being the founder of the summer Confratute program at UConn, which began in 1978, and has served approximately twenty-five thousand teachers and administrators from around the world.
