Mary M. Frasier, director of urban initiatives and professor of educational psychology, has been named the 2002 Aderhold Distinguished Professor at UGA’s College of Education.
 Frasier has brought national and international recognition to the College for her pioneering and highly influential work in identifying and teaching students who are under-represented in gifted education programs.
    She has worked selflessly as a mentor to many faculty and students during her 27-year tenure at UGA.
    In an era when the country began to question the equity of educational programming and realize that many poor and minority students were being denied equal opportunity, Frasier moved beyond the rhetoric.
 As a researcher, scholar and advocate, she has had a profound effect on changing the way children are assessed for gifted services. She designed the Frasier Talent Assessment Profile (F-TAP), a comprehensive assessment system with multiple indicators that is much more effective in assessing the gifts and talents of low-income and minority children than single-indicator tests previously used. She has worked with school districts throughout the nation to implement this assessment.
    In Georgia, the entire state changed its criteria due in large part to Frasier and her work with the Georgia Department of Education Task Force on the Revision of Rules and Regulations for the Identification of Gifted Students.
    “Mary’s work in revising state of Georgia criteria for selecting students into gifted programs has made a tremendous impact on public schools in which I work across the state. A much broader range of students now has the opportunity for special services of gifted programs,” said Sally Hudson Ross, professor of language education and co-director of UGA-NETS, an innovative teacher mentoring program. “I am aware of this impact from discussions with mentor teachers with whom I’ve worked for eight years and with pre-service teachers who clearly understand these criteria – and their import – from their special education courses and school experiences.”
    Within the College, Frasier has played and continues to play many vital roles. In 1980, she founded the Torrance Center for Creative Studies which has served many local children, schools and families. She directed the center – named for Paul Torrance, a UGA professor emeritus and a pioneer in gifted education – for the first decade and then again from 1995-97. She also served as interim director of the center in spring 2000.
    Frasier served as coordinator of the gifted and creative education program in the College from 1996-2000.
    She was associate director and primary investigator for The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, a consortium of four universities that received $7.5 million in external funding from 1990-95.
    Frasier was appointed to the graduate faculty in 1982 and was reappointed in 1989 and 1996. She received tenure in 1981.
    She was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the National Association for Gifted Children in 1991 and received the EVE Award for Achievement in Education from the Athens Daily News/Banner-Herald, Georgia National Bank and radio stations WNGS/WGAU in 1990.
    Frasier received a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Connecticut, a master’s in guidance and counseling, and a bachelor’s in music education, both from South Carolina State College.

 Other College of Education faculty teaching awards announced for 2001-02 academic year include:
 * Diane Samdahl, an associate professor in recreation and leisure studies, received the D. Keith Osborn Award for Teaching Excellence, recognizing an associate or full professor.
 * Norm Thomson, an assistant professor in science education, received the D. Keith Osborn Award for Teaching Excellence, traditionally awarded to an assistant professor.
 * Peg Graham, an associate professor in language education, received the COE Award for Teaching Excellence.
 * Georgia Calhoun, an assistant professor in counseling and human development services, recieved the COE Outstanding Teaching Award.

Thursday, March 21, 2002
Writer: Michael Childs, 706/542-5889, mchilds@coe.uga.edu
Contact: Brenda Manning, 706/583-0990, bmanning@coe.uga.edu