Dr. Steve Coxon, 2020 Laura Joyner Award winner

Dr. Steve Coxon, Associate Professor of Gifted Education and Executive Director of the Center for Access and Achievement (CA2) at Maryville University in St. Louis, has dedicated his career to identifying and serving traditionally underrepresented gifted students.

Through partnerships with area schools and nonprofit organizations, the CA2 programs better prepare underserved students — from preschool through high school — for college and for careers in STEM fields.

As chair of an advisory committee on gifted learners in Missouri, Dr. Coxon was instrumental in creating a statewide policy to ensure that identification of gifted students and entrance to gifted education programs is equitable for Missouri’s 883,000 students.

The Mensa Foundation’s Laura Joyner Award recognizes outstanding work, theoretical or applied, in education, literacy, or work with the gifted, or identifying threats to or preventing the loss of intelligence.