David Lubinski, professor of psychology, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Mensa Education and Research Foundation in July. The award was presented by Phyllis Miller, a trustee of the Mensa Foundation and editor emerita of the Mensa Research Journal. Lubinski was recognized for his work as co-director of the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth.
Sandra L. Barnes, professor of human and organizational development, has earned a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services to implement HIV interventions for young black males over the next five years. She is partnering with First Response Center in North Nashville.
Elisabeth Dykens, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center director, Annette Schaffer Eskind Professor of Psychology and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, is lead investigator for a $6.5 million, five-year grant awarded to VKC to continue as a national Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center.
Ellen Goldring, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Education Policy and Leadership; and Jason Grissom, associate professor of public policy and education; received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences to study how state school systems can best use teacher evaluation data to drive instructional improvement. The study is a partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education, Brown University and Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Mary Louise “ML” Hemmeter, professor of special education and co-faculty director of the Susan Gray School for Children, is a part of a team of developers who have created a new interdisciplinary early childhood curriculum, Connect4Learning. C4L addresses the lack of math and science emphasis in pre-K curriculum by providing a balanced research-based approach focusing on literacy, mathematics, science and social-emotional development. It is available exclusively through Kaplan Early Learning Company.
Robert Jiménez, professor, and Lisa Pray, associate professor of the practice, both in the Department of Teaching and Learning, were among a team selected to receive the Alan C. Purves Award by the National Council of Teachers of English for their article, “Using Translation to Drive Conceptual Development for Students Becoming Literate in English as an Additional Language.” It was published in Research in the Teaching of English.
Tamra Stambaugh, research assistant professor of special education and director of Programs for Talented Youth, has been selected to receive the Early Leader Award and the Curriculum Award by the National Association of Gifted Children. Stambaugh recently co-wrote Serving Gifted Students in Rural Settings (Prufrock Press, 2015), which has been named a Legacy Book Award winner by the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented.
James H. Steiger and Sonya K. Sterba have been recognized by the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology. Steiger, professor of psychology and human development, is the 2015 recipient of the Sells Award for Distinguished Multivariate Research, while Sterba, assistant professor of psychology, is the recipient of the Cattell Early Career Research Award.
Joseph Wehby, associate professor of special education, and Joe Murphy, Frank W. Mayborn Professor of Education, were honored by Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos for 25 years of service to Vanderbilt.