The Mensa Foundation has announced that it is presenting the Intellectual Benefits Award for 2007 to Minneapolis resident Dr. Deborah Ruf. The annual award pays tribute to one member of Mensa, the high IQ society, for the application of intellectual abilities that result in a tangible benefit to society. Dr. Ruf won the award based on her extensive work with gifted children and adults.
“We believe that Dr. Ruf is a perfect candidate for the 2007 Intellectual Benefits Award,” said Greg Timmers, Mensa Foundation President. “One of the statements in the Mensa Foundation’s Articles of Incorporation states that the Foundation seeks to help ‘intellectually gifted people in the development of their intellectual and social abilities so that they can better benefit society.’ Dr. Ruf’s work over the years has directly fulfilled that goal.”
Founder of Educational Options, Dr. Ruf offers a number of comprehensive services to her clients including assessment of intelligence, family/school guidance, college planning and public speaking. Her goal when she founded the business in 1999 was to help the families of gifted children, particularly highly and profoundly gifted children, to know where to begin their search for answers related to gifted issues. She has written extensively about gifted children and adults, including her book Losing our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind (Great Potential Press) and Assessment Service Bulletin on High Ability Assessment for the Stanford-Binet Five Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (Riverside Publishing). She was guest editor of the fall 2007 issue of the Mensa Research Journal, which was devoted to the topic of homeschooling.
The Mensa Intellectual Benefits Award was created in 2006 to honor Mensa members who show innovation in activities including education programs for employees, client or business associate education programs, programs designed to educate the public, and intellectual research and development. These activities may be paid or unpaid with consideration given to the number of individuals impacted by the nominee’s contributions.