Joan Franklin Smutny is founder and director of the Center for Gifted, a Northern Illinois University Partner. She directs programs for thousands of bright, talented, and gifted children in the Chicago area annually. She also teaches creative writing in many of these programs as well as courses on gifted education for graduate students at the university level. She is editor of the Illinois Association for Gifted Children Journal, contributing editor of Understanding Our Gifted, and a regular contributor to the Gifted Education Communicator, Parenting for High Potential, and the Gifted Education Press Quarterly. Smutny has authored, co-authored, and edited many articles and books on gifted education for teachers, parents, and administrators, including Challenging High Potential Spanish Speaking Students (2012), Teaching Advanced Learners in the General Education Classroom (2011), Manifesto of the Gifted Girl (2010), Differentiating for the Young Child, Second Edition (2010), Igniting Creativity in Gifted Learners, K–6 (2009), Acceleration for Gifted Learners, K–5 (2007), Reclaiming the Lives of Gifted Girls and Women (2007), Designing and Developing Programs for Gifted Students (2003), Underserved Gifted Populations (2003), Gifted Education: Promising Practices (2003), Stand Up for Your Gifted Child (2001), The Young Gifted Child: Potential and Promise, an Anthology (1998), and Teaching Young Gifted Children in the Regular Classroom (1997). In 1996, she won the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contribution to the field of gifted education.