Kathy Hirsh-Pasek is the Stanley and Deborah Lefkowitz Professor of Psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she directs the Temple University Infant Language Laboratory. She is the author of 14 books and over 200 publications on early childhood and infant development, with a specialty in language and literacy, and playful learning. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Universal Education, and the current president of the International Congress of Infant Studies. Much of Hirsh-Pasek's work has been dedicated to bridging the gap between developmental and educational research and applications. Hirsh-Pasek was one of the investigators on the acclaimed National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, co-authored the language and literacy curricula for the State of California Preschools, and serves as an advisor on the National Institute of Health Toolbox initiative. She was co-creator of the moral development curricula, An Ethical Start, and speaks widely on ways to translate primary research findings into practice for young children. She consults worldwide on educational policy and works with children’s media, the toy industry, children’s museums and children’s libraries. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, and the National Institutes of Health and Human Development, among other institutions. An advocate of the importance of play and playful education in early childhood, she is a founder and member of the executive committee of The Ultimate Block Party, which drew more than 50,000 people to its inaugural event at Central Park in New York City in October 2010. Hirsh-Pasek is a member of the Research Council for America’s Promise, an organization started by Colin Powell, and has appeared as a spokesperson on play and early development for national media like NPR and The New York Times. Her son is composer Benj Pasek.
Awards and honors
Hirsh-Pasek is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. Her book Einstein Never used Flashcards: How Children Really Learn and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less won the Books for Better Life Award for best psychology book. Her latest book, Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us about Raising Successful Children, was on The New York Times best seller list in both education and parenting, and a bronze medal winner of the Living Now Book Awards for Parenting. She and her longtime collaborator Roberta Michnick Golinkoff from the University of Delaware were joint recipients of the 2009 American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science and the 2011 Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society from the American Psychological Association. She is also the recipient of the Association for Psychological ScienceJames McKeen Cattell Award, the Society for Research in Child Development Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Child Development Award.
