Dr. Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek
Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University where she serves as co-director of the Temple Infant and Child Lab. She is the recipient of the APA’s Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society, the APA’s Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science, the APS James McKeen Cattell Award for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to applied psychological research and the APA Distinguished Lecturer Award as well as the Temple University Great Teacher and the University Eberman Research Award. Kathy received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research in the areas of early language development and infant cognition has been funded by the NSF, the NICHD, and the IES resulting in 12 books and over 200 publications. She is a Fellow of the APA and the APS and served as the Associate Editor of Child Development. She is also the President Elect of the International Association for Infant Studies. Her book, Einstein Never used Flashcards: How children really learn and why they need to play more and memorize less, (Rodale Books) won the prestigious Books for Better Life Award as the best psychology book in 2003.
Kathy has a strong interest in bridging the gap between research and application. To that end, she served as an investigator on the NICHD Study of Early Child Care, is on the Advisory Board of the Fred Rogers Center, Jumpstart and Disney Junior and is an invited blogger for the Huffington Post. She worked on the language and literacy team for the development of the California Preschool Curriculum, was one of the organizers of the Ultimate Block Party and developers of the Learning Resource Network. Kathy has been a spokesperson on early development for national magazines and newspapers (The NY Times, People, US News & World Report, Newsweek, Parent’s Magazine, Parenting etc.) radio and television (The View, The Today Show. Good Morning America, 20/20, NPR, ABC News, CBS Morning Show, CNN), and has been an advisor for Sesame Workshop, Fisher Price Toys, Highlights, K’NEX, The Cartoon Network, and a host of Children’s Museums across North America.