NAGC Welcomes Next Association Editor, Paula Olszewski-Kubilius

By Lacy Compton & Paula Olszewski-Kubilius

NAGC is pleased to announce the appointment of Paula Olszewski-Kubilius as the next NAGC association editor. Paula is a longtime member of NAGC and has served as president of the NAGC Board of Directors and editor of Gifted Child Quarterly. She has edited many books, including NAGC Service and Copublications. Paula’s term will run until August 2027. We asked Paula to share more about herself and her background in gifted education with members as she begins her tenure in this volunteer leadership position. Welcome, Paula!

I have been in the field of gifted education for a long time and recently retired, after 40 years, as the director of the Center for Talent Development (CTD) at Northwestern University. I will soon be “professor emeritus” in NU’s School of Education and Social Policy. When you begin your career, it is difficult to envision getting to retirement—but as I am sure many of my colleagues will attest—it happens in a flash! I am settling into a less structured, more relaxed life, one with grandmother duties and some long-awaited creative projects. However, this chance to work on the publications of NAGC is a welcome opportunity to remain connected to a field I love and to people I respect and admire.

As director of CTD, I was involved in crafting learning opportunities of all types—accelerative, enrichment, online, self-paced, face-to-face, and for students of all ages and backgrounds. It was very rewarding and creative. Through that part of my work, I met many bright, eager students and energetic, talented teachers. From them, I learned a great deal about what supports their development.

My scholarship in the field has focused on investigating the role and effects of supplemental programming for gifted learners and how to improve them and make them accessible to more students. I have also written extensively about talent development as a framework for gifted services, particularly how it better serves historically marginalized gifted students and students who might be missed with a more traditional approach to identification and services.

I am a committed member of NAGC, having served as NAGC president, editor of Gifted Child Quarterly, and in other volunteer roles. I also serve on the editorial boards of GCQ, Journal for the Education of the Gifted, and Gifted Child Today. I have edited a number of books with colleagues including Rena Subotnik, Frank Worrell, Tracy Cross, and Tamra Stambaugh.

I feel that I have been very fortunate in that my career blended research and practice. My goal was always to learn from the programs we were offering to students at CTD and through special grants so as to share findings with practitioners that would help them serve the gifted students in the classroom and schools. A major focus for me as association editor will be to work with the Publication Committee, the Board of Directors, and the NAGC staff to bring more publications to fruition that are specifically designed for practitioners and that translate research into application.

I am honored to take on the role of NAGC association editor and look forward to hearing members’ thoughts and ideas on how publications can serve our community.