Stewart L Burgess, PhD, Executive Director, The Children’s Museum of Memphis

Dr. Burgess is a developmental psychologist with an extensive career in early childhood learning with a strong emphasis on designing curriculum, innovative educational spaces, parent education and faculty professional development in addition to his community outreach efforts centered on child development. While completing his master’s degree in Experimental Psychology, he was a member of the MacArthur-granted research team that created and normed the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (MacArthur CDI), the first and foremost comprehensive standardized assessment of early language development. Dr. Burgess received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine, where his primary research focus was on early intellectual skills, and where he was named a UC Board of Regents Dissertation Fellow for his research on the effects of emotion on memory in young children.

He is the co-author of Toddler Next StepsTM, a book produced by Brilliant Beginnings which earned the National Parenting Seal of Approval and two Director’s Choice awards by Early Childhood News for outstanding quality in parenting and professional development materials. Dr. Burgess has been published in a number of highly regarded scholarly journals including Developmental Psychology and has presented at the most prestigious child development and education meetings. He served as Lower School Early Learning Director at St. George’s Independent School since 2003 before accepting his role at CMOM.