March 29, 2024

Abeel Presents at Association for Gifted Children Conference

Laurie B. Abeel, associate professor in the College of Education, presented It’s Time to De-Standardize! Developing Critical and Creative Thinking, at the National Association for Gifted Children conference in Phoenix, Ariz., Nov. 12-15. As a result of her presentation, she was asked to keynote the Kansas Gifted, Talented, and Creative conference in October 2016.

Laurie B. Abeel Earns Black Belt

Laurie B. Abeel, associate professor in the College of Education, successfully earned her 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do with the Karate Sports Center in Warrenton. She passed her three hour test on Friday, June 5.

Abeel Receives Award from NAGC

Laurie B. Abeel, Associate Professor in the College of Education, received an award for her service as the Creativity Network Chair at the National Association for Gifted Children on Nov. 14, 2014 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Abeel Presents Workshops in Monterrey, Mexico

Laurie B. Abeel, Associate Professor in the College of Education, presented four workshops on creative and critical thinking in Monterrey, Mexico on Oct. 16 and 17. She presented Developing Creative and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century to teachers at the American School Foundation of Monterrey (ASFM), and Developing Critical Thinking Strategies to Foster Literacy to teachers at Instituto San Roberto. She also presented Creative Problem Solving Tools to both new and experienced Team Managers who are managing teams for the Mexico Destination Imagination affiliate.

Growing a New Generation of Educators

Grades aren’t foremost on the mind of Laurie Abeel. The College of Education associate professor focuses more on the journey for her graduate-level students. “My approach in every single class deals with growth, not grades,” said Abeel, who teaches gifted education courses. “I’m more concerned with ‘do they understand what I’m trying to teach’ and [...]

Laurie Abeel Earns Black Belt

Laurie Abeel, associate professor in graduate education, passed her Black Belt test in Tae Kwan Do on Saturday, April 28 at the Karate Sports Academy in Warrenton. She started as a white belt in April 2004 and three knee surgeries (with one more at the end of May) and eight years later has finally earned her black belt!

Laurie Abeel

Laurie Abeel, associate professor of Graduate Education and Program Director for Advanced Licensure, is also the State Director for Destination ImagiNation (DI), a creative problem solving program for ages four through college level. She and her state board successfully ran the April 2 state tournament, which included 97 teams from around the state, with about 1,500 people attending. 

Abeel will take 41 teams from Virginia to Global Finals to be held in May at the University of Tennesee in Knoxville, where more than 1,000 teams from around the country and world will present creative solutions to DI challenges. For more information about DI, go to www.idodi.org.