Jennifer Atkinson, gave up a career in plant biology research to become a teacher

Jennifer Lance Atkinson (MEd ’06), a biology teacher at Washington-Wilkes High School in Washington, Ga., has been named the first Mary Frasier Scholar by the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC).
The Mary Frasier Teacher Scholarship Fund for Diverse Talent Development provides grants for teachers from Title 1 schools to attend the NAGC’s annual convention (including a $500 travel stipend) and provides support for continued professional growth in teaching gifted students.

The award is named in honor of the late professor Mary M. Frasier, a nationally recognized scholar and researcher in gifted education and founder of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development in UGA’s College of Education.

Atkinson, who received her master’s in science education at UGA, said it was the work of Frasier and her contemporaries that helped Georgia develop legislation based on multiple criteria for gifted identification in the late 1990s. As a result, many students from all backgrounds are now being identified and assessed more thoroughly.

“Gifted education is a component of education that receives little scrutiny in the mainstream media,” she said. “Gifted services vary from state to state with few, if any guidelines. I am privileged to come from the state of Georgia – a leader in gifted education policy in many ways.”

Through courses in gifted assessment, science curriculum and multiculturalism, and methods in the science teaching, Atkinson said she became very concerned about the lack of people from underrepresented groups in gifted education in Georgia.

“I believe that the lack of representation of these groups is indicative of many factors such as identification tools, assessments and retention in gifted education,” said Atkinson, who has taught at Washington-Wilkes for three years. “I hope that with the Mary Frasier Scholarship I can continue professional growth in the identification and retention of students within my school.”

Atkinson, a native of Oglethorpe County, earned bachelor’s degrees in both plant biology and horticulture from UGA.

“For three years, I worked in the field of plant biology, researching the adaptations of sunflowers to arid environments in the western United States. Research, however, was not the job I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

© 2006 University of Georgia