USC Rossier Faculty Shine: Eight Professors Recognized Among Education Week’s Most Influential Education Scholars

On Jan. 4, Education Week unveiled the 2024 Rick Hess Straight Up (RHSU) Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings. The list uses a set of rubrics to determine which education scholars have made the greatest impact in their field over the previous year. Of the top 200 distinguished scholars listed, eight USC Rossier scholars made the list with two, Dean Pedro Noguera (ranked #3) and Provost Professor of Education and Business Shaun Harper (ranked # 10).

The RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings was created by Rick Hess, author of the blog Rick Hess Straight Up and a resident senior fellow and director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. “Given that more than 20,000 university-based faculty in the United States are researching education, simply making it onto the Edu-Scholar list is a noteworthy feat,” said Hess regarding the list criteria.

Each scholar was scored in eight categories including: Google Scholar score; tallied book points that a scholar has authored or co-authored; highest-ranked book on Amazon; total number of education press mentions; number of times a scholar was mentioned, quoted or referenced online; number of times the scholar was quoted or mentioned in U.S. newspapers; syllabus points that measures how frequently the scholar’s work is included in course syllabi at American colleges and universities; and the number of times the scholar was referenced by a member of the United States Congress.

In addition to Dean Noguera and Provost Professor Harper, University Professor Emeritus Estela Bensimon, Dean’s Professor of Leadership Adrianna Kezar, Professor Julie Marsh, Associate Professor Morgan Polikoff, University Professor Emeritus Bill Tierney and Professor Chris Emdin, who is now with Columbia University, are among the influential scholars listed.

• Dean Pedro Noguera’s research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions, as well as by demographic trends in local, regional and global contexts. Dean Noguera co-hosts the podcast Common Ground with Hess and is a member of the 2024 RHSU selection committee.
• Provost Professor Harper is Provost Professor of Education, Business and Public Policy, the Clifford and Betty Allen Chair in Urban Leadership and the USC Race and Equity Center founder and executive director. Harper was also a member of the RHSU selection committee.
• University Professor Emeritus Estela Bensimon founded the USC Center for Urban Education (CUE) in 1999. Bensimon developed the Equity Scorecard, a process for using inquiry to drive changes in institutional practice and culture.
• Dean’s Professor of Leadership Adrianna Kezar is a national expert of change and leadership in higher education and director of the USC Pullias Center for Higher Education.
• Professor Julie Marsh is co-director of the USC Rossier Center on Education Policy, Equity and Governance (CEPEG) and the faculty director atPolicy Analysis for California Education (PACE), an independent nonprofit research center.
• Associate Professor Morgan Polikoff’s expertise includes K–12 education policy; curriculum, standards, accountability, and assessment policy; survey research in education; and the impact of COVID-19 on American families’ educational experiences.
• University Professor Emeritus Bill Tierney is the founding director of the USC Pullias Center. Among his expertise includes higher education policy analysis, governance and administration; and decision making in higher education.
• Professor Chris Emdin’s USC Rossier appointment ended in the spring of 2023. He is currently at Teachers College, Columbia University.