[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10] [Senate] [Pages 14080-14081] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]20TH ANNIVERSARY OF BELIN-BLANK CENTER Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, 20 years ago this summer, the Connie Belin & Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development was established at the University of Iowa. Originally created by the Iowa Board of Regents as the Belin National Center for Gifted Education, the center was made possible by a million- dollar endowment that established the Myron and Jacqueline Blank Chair in Gifted Education, which is held to this day by Professor Nicholas Colangelo. In 1995, the center was renamed the Connie Belin & Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, honoring a longtime leader in gifted education and a Des Moines philanthropist. In 2008, the Belin-Blank Center celebrates two decades of service to the international gifted education community. The Belin-Blank Center has earned a strong national and international reputation for its work on behalf of gifted and talented children, which my colleagues know is a subject of great interest to me. Since its inception, the center has pioneered unique and innovative opportunities for students, including academic talent searches designed to discover gifted students; weekend and summer programs on everything from algebra, art, and 3D design to chemistry, creative writing and LEGO robotics; and the National Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering, which provides early admission to the university. Professional development for educators has been the foundation upon which the work of the center has been built. Examples of the center's work in this area include producing internationally acclaimed research symposia and developing specially designed coursework for Iowa's teachers to earn a State of Iowa endorsement in gifted education. As a result of the Belin-Blank Center's efforts, more educators today understand that supporting high-achieving students is an important aspect of successful teaching. The Belin-Blank Center has successfully competed for private, Federal, and State grants. I am proud to say that this includes two Federal Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Education Grants. This program, which I have championed, is designed to improve our ability to meet the unique learning [[Page 14081]] needs of gifted students nationwide. The limited funding is quite competitive and it is a testament to the quality of the Belin-Blank Center's work that it has secured two such grants. The first grant, for the years 2003 to 2006, focused on the discovery and development of giftedness in students who attend alternative high schools and the second, for the years 2005 to 2008, focused on twice-exceptional students, which are students who are gifted and also have a disability. These projects have contributed substantially to our ability to serve these populations of students, who are often overlooked for gifted education programming. In 2004, the director and associate director of the Belin-Blank Center, Nicholas Colangelo and Susan Assouline, along with Miraca U.M. Gross, a colleague from Australia, published ``A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America's Brightest Students.'' The landmark report helped move the subject of gifted education and accelerated programs for high-achieving students into the educational mainstream, drawing notice from Time, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and hundreds of other media venues. An important milestone for the center also occurred in 2004 when the Belin-Blank Center and the University of Iowa's Honors Program moved into a new building, the Myron and Jacqueline N. Blank Honors Center, which is located in the heart of the University of Iowa campus. In bringing the two programs together, the University of Iowa became one of the Nation's first schools to offer kindergarten-through-college support for gifted students under one roof. As an Iowan and an advocate for gifted and talented education, I am very proud to have such a highly esteemed center in Iowa. For its tremendous contribution to the field of gifted education internationally and for its positive impact on the lives of countless gifted and talented students, the Belin-Blank Center is truly deserving of recognition on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. ____________________