Tracy Cross, 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award winner

The Mensa Foundation has honored Dr. Tracy L. Cross, executive director of the Center for Gifted Education and a professor at the College of William and Mary, with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was presented at The College of William and Mary by Foundation Trustee Dave Remine.

Dr. Cross received the award based on his dedication to research in the field of gifted students over the span of 15 years. He has become the most active researcher in the world on the suicidal behavior of gifted students and has written five books on the topic. He has served as editor of every research journal in the field of gifted education: Gifted Children Quarterly, Roeper Review, Journal of Secondary Gifted Education and the Journal for the Education of the Gifted.

He was honored in 2005 with the John E. Worthen Outstanding Contributor to Education Award; in 2004, he received the Paper of the Year Award (for his work published in Gifted Child Quarterly) from the National Association for Gifted Children and the Outstanding Service Award from the Association for the Gifted (TAG) of the Council for Exceptional Children.

“The innovative research of Dr. Cross sheds light on an important issue — suicidal behavior — in the realm of gifted students,” said Greg Timmers, Foundation president. “He has worked tirelessly for the past 15 years in the area of intelligence and gifted students, which is the forefront focus of the Mensa Foundation. Dr. Cross deserves this award and we look forward to his future research.”

The Mensa Lifetime Achievement Award was created in 1999 to honor an individual’s lifetime of contributions to the field of intelligence, giftedness or creativity. To win this award, an individual must have published an exceptional body of work in research, theory or other scholarly areas over a period of not less than 15 years. Winners may be educators and/or practitioners in the fields of giftedness, brain function, human intelligence, creativity or intelligence testing. Winners receive $1,000 and a crystal award.

Dr. Cross' award was presented by Michael Halleran (left), Provost of the College of William and Mary, and Foundation Trustee Dave Remine (right).