The American Enterprise Institute has named Thomas Smith, the dean of UCR’s Graduate School of Education (GSOE), one of 200 influential educational scholars. Smith placed 168th out of university-based researchers nationwide.
The rankings, based on eight separate metrics including web visibility and attention in both mainstream and educational press, are designed to determine which scholars had the most influence regarding public debates on education.
Stanford has the highest number of ranked scholars, clocking in at 22, with Harvard and Columbia universities following behind at 18 and 14 ranked scholars, respectively. Collectively, 18 University of California researchers are placed in the top 200. UCLA is the single largest contributor, with eight UCLA scholars featured on the list. Additional UC scholars hail from UC Berkeley, with one scholar coming from each of UC San Diego, UC Merced and UC Davis.
Based out of Washington, D.C., the American Enterprise Institute is a nonprofit institution sometimes criticized for having a conservative political bias, but reaffirms that it is “dedicated to research and education on issues of government, politics, economics and social welfare,” according to its website.
