Office for Giftedness, Talent Development and Creativity

Located on the University of North Texas campus in Denton, TX, the Office for Giftedness, Talent Development, and Creativity was founded in 2016 to provide services for gifted and talented young people.

The UNT Office for Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent Development is committed to transforming potential into excellence through innovative opportunities for gifted, creative, and talented students, community outreach, and research. We aspire to serve the intellectual, academic, social, and emotional needs of diverse gifted, creative, and talented children and adolescents in the greater north Texas and surrounding areas, and assist those who parent, teach and otherwise work with them.

Please consider making a gift that will help us turn our vision into a reality. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowable by law. Your gift will also contribute to our ongoing efforts and intended growth related to parent training, advocacy, research efforts, consulting, and program evaluation. Additionally, your gift will support valuable research and learning opportunities for economically disadvantaged students, their families, and teachers in our community. In time, our services will expand to include assessment and psychological services for gifted individuals.
If you would like to support the Office (e.g., individual gift, corporate sponsorship), please contact Shelly Lane (shelly.lane@unt.edu), Executive Director of Development. Or click here: Giving to UNT

Office location

Matthews Hall, Room 322-M
1300 W. Highland Street
Denton, TX 76203

Affiliated Faculty

Selcuk Acar
Associate Professor

Selcuk Acar

Associate Professor

Educational Psychology

Matthews Hall 316

940-565-4646

selcuk.acar@unt.edu

MOTES

Faculty Profile

Selcuk Acar, Ph.D., is an associate professor of educational psychology at the University of North Texas. He received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (with an emphasis in Gifted and Creative Education) from the University of Georgia. His primary area of research interest includes divergent thinking, assessment of creativity, and the education of the gifted and talented. Prior to UNT, Dr. Acar has worked at two different centers specialized in the field of creative education: Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development of University of Georgia, and the International Center for Studies in Creativity of SUNY Buffalo State. In addition to numerous book chapter and encyclopedia entries, Dr. Acar published over 70 peer-reviewed articles primarily on creativity. He has served as a PI in a creativity measurement grant by the Institute of Education Sciences to develop a new measure of original thinking called MOTES. He is currently serving as an Associate Editor at Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. He is also on the editorial board of Gifted Child Quarterly, Journal of Creative Behavior, Journal of Advanced Academics, and Creativity Research Journal. Dr. Acar is a recipient of APA Division 10’s 2022 Berlyne Award in recognition of outstanding research by an early career scholar, UNT College of Education’s 2021 Faculty Research Excellence Award and UNT College of Education's 2023 Service Award.

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Jaret Hodges
Assistant Professor

Jaret Hodges

Assistant Professor

Educational Psychology

Matthews Hall 316

940-369-7942

Jaret.Hodges@unt.edu

Faculty Profile

Jaret Hodges earned a master's degree at the University of Houston, doctorate at Purdue University, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University. His research interests include underrepresented populations in gifted education, rural gifted education, and gifted education policy. He also has an interest in promoting open science practices and the use of computer programming in education research.

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Rachel Mun
Associate Professor

Rachel Mun

Associate Professor

Associate Professor, Educational Psychology

Matthews Hall 322-B

940-565-2028

Rachel.Mun@unt.edu

Faculty Profile

Rachel U. Mun is an Associate Professor at the University of North Texas in Educational Psychology. She received her Ph.D. in Education, Learning Sciences and Human Development from the University of Washington. She was also a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Connecticut with the National Center for Research on Gifted Education conducting research on identifying and serving underrepresented gifted learners. Her research interests are two tiered and best described as an intersection between culture, gifted education, and socioemotional well-being. At the micro-level, she explores socioemotional development and decision-making for high-ability students (emphasis on immigrants) within family, peer and academic contexts with the goal to promote well-being. At the macro-level, she examines ways to improve equitable identification and services for K-12 high-ability learners from diverse populations. She has published in Gifted Child Quarterly, Journal for the Education of the Gifted, Journal of Advanced Academics, Roeper Review and Parenting for High Potential.

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Anne Rinn
Department Chair of Educational Psychology

Anne Rinn

Department Chair of Educational Psychology

Department Chair of Educational Psychology

Matthews Hall 316-B

940-565-4037

anne.rinn@unt.edu

Faculty Profile

Anne N. Rinn, Ph.D. is Chair of the Department of Educational Psychology and Professor of Educational Psychology and Gifted Education. She has an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Houston and a doctorate in Educational Psychology from Indiana University. Her research is related to the social and emotional experiences of gifted individuals and the psychosocial skills necessary for the development of academic talent. She has published around 100 journal articles and book chapters, as well as two textbooks: Social, Emotional, and Psychosocial Development of Gifted and Talented Individuals (Rinn, 2020) and From Giftedness to Gifted Education: Reflecting Theory in Practice (Plucker et al., 2017). She was co-editor of the Journal of Advanced Academics from 2017-2022.

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