Certificate in Gifted Education Faculty
Dr. Norma Lu Hafenstein, founder and director of the Ricks Center for Gifted Children, is active in many professional organizations for the gifted and has presented at local, national, and international conferences. She is past chair of the Early Childhood Division of the National Association for Gifted Children. Her work has been published in Roeper Review and Gifted Child Quarterly. Dr. Hafenstein is editor and publisher of Perspectives in Gifted Education. Young Gifted Children and Twice Exceptional Children are her most recent monographs on gifted education. She also serves as director or The Institute for the Development of Gifted Education at the University of Denver. She received her PhD from the University of Denver, her MS from Kansas State University and her BS from Emporia State University.
Dr. Betsy Kutrumbos, co-founder of Educational Counseling Services, specializes in psychological and educational evaluation and treatment for learning disabled and gifted children. She is active in a number of professional organizations and has presented at local and national conferences. She has also published numerous books and articles, and her work was most recently published in Understanding Our Gifted. She received her PhD and MA from DU and her BS from the State University of New York at Fredonia.
Dr. Kathy Lenz, currently employed as the gifted education coordinator of Poudre School District. She has served on state committees to read grant proposals, has designed policy in gifted education, and examined the characteristics of successful teachers of the gifted. She has served as presiding governor of the Colorado Academy of Educators for the Gifted, Talented, and Creative and has served on the State Gifted Education Advisory Board. She received her PhD from the University of Denver and her MS from the University of Northern Colorado.
Shannon Jones, associate director of curriculum and instruction at Ricks Center for Gifted Children and Associate Director of the Institute for the Development of Gifted Education at DU, oversees publication of Ricks Center curriculum and coordinates outreach programs for the implementation of integrated curriculum models. She is past co-chair of the Early Childhood Division of the National Association for Gifted Children. Her work has been published in Roeper Review. She has presented at local, state, and national conferences regarding assessment, curriculum, and issues surrounding giftedness. Shannon has received the NAGC Gifted Educator of the Year Award and the Colorado Teacher of the Gifted Award. A current PhD candidate at the University of Denver, she also received her MA from DU.
Frank Rainey has served as associate director of the Institute for the Development of Gifted Education at the University of Denver and as state director of Gifted and Talented Education at the Colorado Department of Education. He also served as chairman of the Colorado State Advisory Committee for Gifted and Talented Student Education, board member and executive committee member of the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented, and was co-founder and presiding governor of the Colorado Academy of Educators of the Gifted, Talented and Creative. Currently a PhD candidate at University of Denver, Rainey received his MA from DU, his BA from the University of Minnesota and a BS from the University of Northern Colorado.
