WKU News

Registration is now open for the 2021 Berta Seminar, an annual event exploring the social and emotional needs of gifted children.

Noted educator Dr. Kristina Collins will present “Social-emotional and Responsive Guidance: Parenting, Teaching, and Counseling Gifted Students.” In this interactive seminar, the Dr. Collins will address social, emotional, and cultural contexts of academic development and personal growth of gifted students. With a shared understanding that equitable practices lead to equalized opportunities, participants will learn how about responsive parenting, teaching, and counseling that foster and leverage students’ personal goals, values, interest, and readiness throughout school and young adulthood.

The seminar will take place on October 18, 2021 at the Knicely Conference Center located at 2355 Nashville Road, Bowling Green, Kentucky. It runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. EILA credit is available. Thanks to a generous gift from Kathleen and Vince Berta, this event is free to attend and open to the public.

To register, visit wku.edu/gifted/educators/berta.

Dr. Collins has 30 years of teaching and leadership experience in various educational settings, PK-20. Her educational background includes a Ph.D. in educational psychology at The University of Georgia where she also earned an Ed.S. degree, specializing in gifted and creative education (GCE) with an add-on certificate in educational administration and policy leadership; a M.S.Ed. degree in mathematics from Jacksonville State University with an add-on certificate in technology education from the Georgia State University (formerly Georgia Piedmont Technical Institute); a B.S. degree in Engineering from The University of Alabama; and a military diploma in cryptology and electronic surveillance through the United States Navy.

Established by The Center for Gifted Studies in 2004 thanks to a generous donation from Kathleen and Vince Berta, the Berta Seminars bring in nationally and internationally known experts to provide sessions to parents of gifted children and professional learning to educators and other interested parties to learn how to better address the social and emotional needs of gifted young people in and out of the classroom. The Berta Seminars was established to help meet their needs.

For more information on the Berta Seminars or The Center for Gifted Studies, visit wku.edu/gifted.

Contact: Jesse Knifley, (270) 745-3014 or jesse.knifley@wku.edu