Reis does occasionally mix the two parts of her life. On Halloween she showed up for a seminar dressed as a cow for an event later that day at her daughter's school. Her latest book explores the challenges facing talented women and the compromises they often must make. A former high school English teacher, Reis was first drawn to gifted education when she found ways to help students who fell behind but didn't know how to help students who were clearly ahead. She followed her interest to UConn and studied with Joseph Renzulli, a leading expert in gifted education, who later became her husband.
Students regard the academic couple with awe.
Not content to rest on her considerable laurels, Reis is always refining her pedagogical approaches. Her class of 130 undergraduates is one of her current challenges. She hopes small group discussions, videos and role playing will help. There's such a disconnect in that large a class if you just stand at the lectern. She also believes in different forms of assessment.