Two School of Education professors named among nation’s
most influential education scholars
January 7, 2021
Dean and Professor Richard Arum (left) and
Distinguished Professor Greg Duncan were named to the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings.
Frederick Hess named UCI School of Education Dean and Professor Richard Arum and Distinguished Professor Greg Duncan to his annual RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings.
The list recognizes 200 university-based scholars in the U.S. who had the biggest influence on educational practice and policy last year. Hess estimates there are more than 20,000 university-based faculty nationwide who qualified for his list.
Arum is principal investigator of the Next Generation Undergraduate Success Measurement Project, a state-of-the-art measurement project that is improving our understanding of the value of undergraduate educational experiences and promoting evidence-based models of undergraduate student success.
Supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the project is tracking more than 1,200 UCI undergraduates for multiple years, collecting data on everything from transcripts to online classroom behavior, living situations to student moods and attitudes. The project was featured in July on PBS Newshour.
In October, Arum presented a proposal to ensure that traditional colleges and universities, as well as federal college funding programs, respond to acute learning needs brough on by the pandemic and successfully prepare the future workforce. In December, Arum outlined ways that higher education institutions can become more just, equitable places over the next decade.
Duncan’s research focuses on the economic mobility of the U.S. population, both within and across generations, with a particular focus on low-income families. He investigates the roles families, peers, neighborhoods and public policy play in affecting the life chances of children and adolescents, and his research highlights the importance of early childhood as a sensitive period for the damaging influences of economic deprivation as well as for the beneficial impacts of policy-induced income increases for working families.
Duncan is currently part of a team conducting a random-assignment trial assessing impacts of income supplements on the cognitive development of infants born to poor mothers in four diverse U.S. communities. He served as chair of a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee, the Committee on Building an Agenda to Reduce the Number of Children in Poverty by Half in 10 Years. In 2019, the committee released “A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty,” which reviews the research on linkages between child poverty and child well-being, analyzes the poverty-reducing effects of major assistance programs directed at children and families, and provides policy and program recommendations for reducing the number of children living in poverty in the United States by half within 10 years.
Frederick Hess is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the director of the think tank’s Education Policy Studies. Established in 2010, this is the 11th annual edition of the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings.
To view the full rankings, please click here.
ABOUT THE UCI SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
One of the nation’s premier education schools, the UCI School of Education is focused on advancing educational sciences and contributing to improved educational opportunities and outcomes for individuals across the entire lifespan. A diverse, dynamic and collaborative institution, the School of Education’s research, community partnerships and programming are dedicated to producing innovative scholarship, addressing the needs of local schools, and inspiring future generations of educators. Established in 2012, the School of Education ranks No. 20 in the U.S. News & World Report’s list of top graduate schools of education, No. 10 among public schools. Located in the heart of diverse and burgeoning Orange County – the nation’s sixth most populous county – the School of Education is uniquely positioned to serve as a model for a 21st Century school of education. For more information, please visit our website.
The list recognizes 200 university-based scholars in the U.S. who had the biggest influence on educational practice and policy last year. Hess estimates there are more than 20,000 university-based faculty nationwide who qualified for his list.
Arum is principal investigator of the Next Generation Undergraduate Success Measurement Project, a state-of-the-art measurement project that is improving our understanding of the value of undergraduate educational experiences and promoting evidence-based models of undergraduate student success.
Supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the project is tracking more than 1,200 UCI undergraduates for multiple years, collecting data on everything from transcripts to online classroom behavior, living situations to student moods and attitudes. The project was featured in July on PBS Newshour.
In October, Arum presented a proposal to ensure that traditional colleges and universities, as well as federal college funding programs, respond to acute learning needs brough on by the pandemic and successfully prepare the future workforce. In December, Arum outlined ways that higher education institutions can become more just, equitable places over the next decade.
Duncan’s research focuses on the economic mobility of the U.S. population, both within and across generations, with a particular focus on low-income families. He investigates the roles families, peers, neighborhoods and public policy play in affecting the life chances of children and adolescents, and his research highlights the importance of early childhood as a sensitive period for the damaging influences of economic deprivation as well as for the beneficial impacts of policy-induced income increases for working families.
Duncan is currently part of a team conducting a random-assignment trial assessing impacts of income supplements on the cognitive development of infants born to poor mothers in four diverse U.S. communities. He served as chair of a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee, the Committee on Building an Agenda to Reduce the Number of Children in Poverty by Half in 10 Years. In 2019, the committee released “A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty,” which reviews the research on linkages between child poverty and child well-being, analyzes the poverty-reducing effects of major assistance programs directed at children and families, and provides policy and program recommendations for reducing the number of children living in poverty in the United States by half within 10 years.
Frederick Hess is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the director of the think tank’s Education Policy Studies. Established in 2010, this is the 11th annual edition of the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings.
To view the full rankings, please click here.
ABOUT THE UCI SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
One of the nation’s premier education schools, the UCI School of Education is focused on advancing educational sciences and contributing to improved educational opportunities and outcomes for individuals across the entire lifespan. A diverse, dynamic and collaborative institution, the School of Education’s research, community partnerships and programming are dedicated to producing innovative scholarship, addressing the needs of local schools, and inspiring future generations of educators. Established in 2012, the School of Education ranks No. 20 in the U.S. News & World Report’s list of top graduate schools of education, No. 10 among public schools. Located in the heart of diverse and burgeoning Orange County – the nation’s sixth most populous county – the School of Education is uniquely positioned to serve as a model for a 21st Century school of education. For more information, please visit our website.
