Mary K. Tallent-Runnels is a Professor of Educational Psychology in the College of Education at Texas Tech University. She has over 30 years of experience working with parents and teachers of gifted children ages of 4 to 17. In addition to her time as both a public and private school teacher of gifted students and administrator of gifted programs, she is the former director of the IDEAL program at Texas Tech University. She is the recipient of several teaching and research awards at both the public school and university levels. Her research interests are gifted children and online instruction. She is the author of numerous articles in gifted and talented education as well as in online teaching. She has published in journals such as Gifted Child Quarterly, The Journal for the Education of the Gifted, Roeper Review, G/C/T, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Review of Educational Research, and the Journal of Experimental Education.
