Dr. Bertie Kingore

Professor and Education Innovator

Born on a farm in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Bertie Kingore is the youngest of four daughters born to first-generation Americans Leslie and Lydia Wilhelm. Bertie’s early years were spent in South Dakota before the family moved to Kansas so her father could start a car repair business when she was ten years old.

Bertie graduated from Wichita West High School in Wichita, Kansas and went on to enroll in Wichita State University where she earned her B.A. degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in education as a reading specialist. While at Wichita State, Bertie met Richard Kingore (who impressed her with his convertible Corvette) and the couple married in 1966. Bertie then went on to graduate from the University of North Texas in 1980 with a Ph.D. in Education.

Dr. Kingore taught in public and independent schools in Kansas and Texas and also served as an adjunct professor at the University of North Texas. In 1980, Dr. Kingore arrived at Hardin-Simmons University as a faculty member in the Irvin School of Education. She was named the Shelton Professor of Education for Graduate Studies, a post she held until 1998. While serving on the HSU faculty, Dr. Kingore was also the founding director for the Threshold Program for Advanced or Gifted Youth, serving youth ranging in age from five to sixteen. While at HSU, Dr. Kingore was awarded the Cullen Professor Award for Excellence in Teaching.

As a leading authority in the field of Gifted and Talented Education, Dr. Kingore left HSU to pursue an international consultancy and to educate teachers on the effectiveness of her ready-to-use research-based applications. As an award-winning author of twenty-seven books and numerous articles in professional journals, Dr. Bertie Kingore has been at the forefront of her field and her series of books offering instructional methods for adding rigor and engagement for gifted learners has served as the benchmark for the educational field of Gifted and Talented.

In 1985, the University of North Texas honored Dr. Kingore by naming her as an Outstanding Alumnus. In 1992 Dr. Kingore was named as the inaugural recipient of the Texas Gifted Educator of the Year award by the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented and in 2011 was awarded that group’s President’s Award. In 2005 Bertie Kingore was honored with the Legacy Award for authorship of the Educator Book of the Year and she was the recipient of the National Teachers’ Choice Award in 2014.

As a national leader in the field of Gifted and Talented Education, Dr. Kingore has served as the President of the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented. She has been the past chairman for the Parent and Community Division of the National Association for Gifted Children, past chairman of the International Reading Association program, Reading Excellence through the Arts, and as the Texas Education Agency Chair for the Texas Reading Initiative Task Force for Primary Gifted Children.

Bertie Kingore is an acclaimed speaker at international, national, and state conferences. She was the 2011 keynote speaker for the Texas Association of the Gifted and Talented and has twice been the keynote speaker for the National Association for Gifted Children. Dr. Kingore has been a presenter at seven world conferences in differentiation, reading, and gifted education.

Dr. Kingore states that the greatest influences on her life have been her parents, her husband, her three sons and by the good fortune of having been born in the United States. Her service to others is evident as she volunteers her time and expertise to improve impoverished schools throughout the nation and through her active campaign work for the Lakota Sioux schools.

For her dedication to the field of education, for her untiring and innovative efforts researching and implementing educational strategies, and for her service to others through the furtherance of understanding the educational needs of the gifted and talented student, it is a high honor for Hardin-Simmons University recognize Dr. Bertie W. Kingore with induction into the University’s Hall of Leaders.