Instructors

Dr. Rowe Van Meter

Dr. Rowe Van Meter is a gifted-endorsed educator who currently serves as the Gifted Services Coordinator for a large school district in Arizona. She is an adjunct professor in the College of Education at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Az. and a Content Expert in the GCU Doctoral College. She also serves on the board of directors for the Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented. Dr. Van Meter graduated from Arizona State University with her degree in journalism and a post-baccalaureate degree in Elementary Education, a Master's Degree in Elementary Education from Cambridge College, and a doctorate from Grand Canyon University in Organizational Leadership in K-12 Education. She also has her administrative certification. She has taught in 4th-6th grades as a general education teacher and was a gifted cluster teacher. She has also taught gifted students in grade K-8 as a pull-out gifted resource teacher and instructional coach for 7 years. Currently, her position is Coordinator of Gifted Services in a large school district, where she manages the gifted services in 31 schools pre-K through 8th grade. Her passion in education is ensuring gifted students have their academic and social emotional needs met in their educational environment. Her dissertation research focused on regular education teachers and their feelings about being able to support their gifted learners needs, another area she is very interested in. Dr. Van Meter is happiest when she is visiting gifted classrooms and seeing all the amazing learning opportunities that students have to grow to their potential. She is currently serving on the board of directors for Arizona's Association Gifted and Talented, in Arizona, a network dedicated to serving the gifted and talented community.

Jessica Zimmerman

Jessica Zimmerman serves on the board of directors for the Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented, where she is dedicated to improving outcomes for gifted students at both the school and district levels. In 2021, she received the prestigious Milken Educator Award—often called the "Oscar of teaching"—recognizing her exceptional work as an instructional coach and gifted coordinator. Her transformative impact on education was also highlighted in Phoenix Magazine’s “Great 48.” As someone who was once an underachieving gifted student herself, and now a mother of a highly gifted child, Jessica is passionate about educating, empowering, and advocating for gifted students across Arizona. She saw a need to create classes for her teachers that they could do on their own time that supported them through field experience and additional support with getting their gifted endorsements. She has developed over 200 hours of professional development content and has supported the endorsement of dozens of educators in obtaining their gifted endorsements in Arizona.

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