Mary Frasier

Mary M. Frasier (1938–2005) is an internationally recognized scholar and researcher in gifted education and founder of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development in the College of Education. For three decades, she was a professor of educational psychology and brought national and international recognition to the college with her pioneering and highly influential work in identifying and teaching students who are underrepresented in gifted education programs.

She designed the Frasier Talent Assessment Profile, a comprehensive assessment system with multiple indicators that is much more effective in assessing the gifts and talents of low-income and minority children than the single-indicator tests previously used. This instrument is still in use today. In 1984, she founded the Torrance Center for Creative Studies and served as its director for its first decade, then again from 1995 to 1997. The Torrance Center has served many local children, schools and families over the past two decades with a variety of programs, including the Georgia Future Problem Solving Program and the Challenge programs.