The Mensa Foundation Awards Maine Resident For His Contribution To School Systems

ARLINGTON, TEXAS, July 19th, 2011 — The Mensa Education & Research Foundation is proud to announce Mensa member Dr. Raymond G. Taylor of Pemaquid, Maine is the winner of the 2011 Intellectual Benefits Award.

The award recognizes his creation of the first integrated planning system for schools and communities—a program created to forecast public school enrollments, find optimal locations for new school buildings, and set distance-minimized boundaries for all schools to avoid overcrowding and meet racial balance guidelines. The Intellectual Benefits award pays tribute to one member of American Mensa whose intellectual abilities resulted in a substantial benefit to society.

While directing the academic Department of Educational Administration at North Carolina State University, Dr. Taylor created the integrated planning system in 1989. In 1990, he established the Operations Research and Education laboratory whose mission is to bring operations research to education and the public sector. By 2011, Dr. Taylor’s integrated planning system had influenced over $5.5 billion of new school construction. 

“Dr. Taylor has made a difference in our educational systems by providing an operations research model for other school districts to follow,” said Greg Timmers, President of the Mensa Foundation. “Because of his invention, many school districts will be able to avoid overcrowding issues and receive the funding needed to build educational facilities. The Mensa Foundation is very happy to present the Intellectual Benefits Award to Dr. Taylor.”

Dr. Taylor’s creation of the integrated planning system was recognized by the International Forum for Operations Research and Management Science with their Edelman Award in 1999.  The organization also inducted him as a Laureate in 2007 in recognition of the continued contribution of his system. Dr. Taylor is an active member of the Maine Mensa chapter. He has earned seven university degrees including a doctorate in education and a doctorate in systematic theology and has been a professor at North Carolina State University for 25 years. 

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The Mensa Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization focused on intelligence and giftedness in the community at large. It's mission supports two of the three stated purposes shared by all Mensa organizations, to identify and foster intelligence for the benefit of humanity and to encourage research into the nature, characteristics, and uses of intelligence. The Mensa Foundation pursues these goals, in partnership with American Mensa and/or Mensa International where appropriate, with resources donated by Mensans and non-Mensans alike and aspire to use the intelligence of Mensans and non-Mensans to make the world a better place. For more information about the Mensa Foundation, visit mensafoundation.org or call (817) 607-5577.