Three UCSB professors have been named fellows of the American Education Research Association, an organization that honors outstanding research in the field of education.
Education professors Richard P. Duran and Judith Green and political science professor Lorraine McDonnell will be officially inducted into the organization at its annual meeting on May 1. The AERA is an international organization with around 25,000 members from around the world and 475 fellows.
McDonnell said nominations are done by people who know and recognize the potential fellow’s contributions.
“AERA fellows are nominated by at least two other researchers who are already fellows,” McDonnell said. “A fellows selection committee reviews the nominee’s record and makes a recommendation to the AERA council.”
Professor Duran’s research assesses the achievement gap between students from Latino backgrounds and those from Caucasian backgrounds. Professor McDonnell’s research focuses on the politics of education policy.
“I do research on … the implementation and effects of federal and state policies, teacher unions, the politics of student testing, the education of immigrant students among other topics,” McDonnell said.
Green said his research concentrates mainly on dialogue between teachers and students.
“My research focuses on systematically examining how disciplinary knowledge is socially constructed in classrooms, whether in preschool, elementary school, secondary schools or universities,” Green said.
Becoming a fellow is a great honor that could not have been accomplished without the help of colleagues and students at UCSB, Green said.
“I saw this as recognition of the work that I have done with colleagues and students at UCSB, as well as with colleagues nationally and internationally,” Green said. “I feel honored to have our work recognized and see this as creating new possibilities for future work on issues of research methods and issues of equity of access to academic work across the system.”