Megan Foley Nicpon, an internationally recognized expert in counseling psychology and twice-exceptionality, is director of the University of Iowa College of Education’s Connie Belin & Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development.

Foley Nicpon is a professor in counseling psychology and Department Executive Officer (DEO) for Psychological and Quantitative Foundations at the UI College of Education, and the Myron and Jacqueline N. Blank Endowed Chair in Gifted Education.

Foley Nicpon started her career at the University of Iowa in 2004 after receiving her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Arizona State University. She began as a postdoctoral scholar at the Belin-Blank Center, where she quickly became interested in twice-exceptional students. Twice-exceptionality is a term used to describe “a gifted student with a co-occurring disability,” according to the National Association for Gifted Children.

She became the DEO of the Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations in 2019 and also serves as the associate director for research and clinic at the Belin-Blank Center. In this role, she has collaborated on grant-funded projects focused on talent development among groups underrepresented in gifted education, including students with disabilities, and with clinic staff on research and training initiatives.

Foley Nicpon’s research and clinical interests include assessment and intervention with high ability students with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and emotional/learning difficulties, and the social and emotional development of talented and diverse students. She has one co-edited book and over 70 referred articles and book chapters in the areas of talent development, counseling psychology, and twice-exceptionality, and given over 160 presentations at international, national, and state professional meetings.

Foley Nicpon provides clinical and research supervision to doctoral students in Counseling Psychology, many of whom focus on child psychology and talent development.  Awards include the Big Ten Academic Alliance Fellowship, National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Early Scholar Award, American Educational Research Association (AERA) Research on Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent Path Breaker Award, AERA Division E Outstanding Research Award in Human Development, and, twice, the MENSA Research Award, MENSA Education & Research Foundation. She was also inducted into the Iowa Academy of Education in 2019.

Related content: https://education.uiowa.edu/news/2022/05/foley-nicpon-named-new-director-belin-blank-center-gifted-education-and-talent