CLEVELAND STATE PROFESSOR HONORED FOR UNPRECEDENTED THIRD TIME BY MENSA FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH ON GIFTED CHILDREN

Robert Abelman, Ph.D., professor of communication at Cleveland State University, has been honored by the Mensa Education and Research Foundation with a 2005-2006 Award for Excellence in Research, it was announced today.

Abelman is a third-time recipient of this prestigious award from Mensa, the high-IQ society. He was previously honored in 1999-2000 and 2003-2004. He is one of just six people selected this year among an impressive slate of international candidates.
For all three awards, Mensa recognized Abelman's research on gifted children and television and his contributions that help define what we understand about intelligence. Over the last two decades, his work with intellectually and artistically gifted children helped develop and improve child- and family-oriented television programming for commercial and public television networks.

His recent article, "Fighting the War on Indecency: Mediating TV, Internet and Video Game Usage Among Achieving and Underachieving Gifted Children," which will appear in Roeper Review, served as the basis for the award.

Abelman studies how children learn to watch TV, the manner in which they watch TV, and the effects that TV has on their imagination and behavior. He has served as a consultant for Sesame Street, Barney and The Cosby Show among other popular programs.

The National Research Center for the Gifted and Talented, Association for Childhood Education, National Association of Broadcasters and the Javits Act Program have sponsored his research. He is also the author of Reclaiming the Wasteland: TV & Gifted Children (Hampton Press, 1995) and, with University of Connecticut communication professor David J. Atkin, The Televiewing Audience: The Art and Science of Watching TV (Hampton Press, 2002).

Abelman joined Cleveland State in 1981, earned a Distinguished Faculty award in 1995 and serves as director of the School of Communication's Media Arts and Technology division. He lives in Chagrin Falls with his wife Judy and two children, Ryan and A.J.
For more information, please call Cleveland State's Office of Marketing and Public Affairs at 216-687-2290.

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