Two University of Maryland College of Education researchers have been named among the most influential education scholars in the United States.
Kimberly Griffin M.A. ’01, dean of the College of Education, and David Blazar, associate professor of education policy and economics, were both included in Education Week’s 2026 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings. The list ranks the 200 university-based scholars in the United States who had the biggest impact on educational practice and policy last year. This is Griffin’s fifth consecutive appearance on the list and the first for Blazar.
Rick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute and Education Week blogger, and a 27-member selection committee compiled the list using eight metrics. These included how many books the scholars have authored, co-authored or edited; how widely their publications are cited; how often their work is included in college syllabi around the world; whether they are mentioned in the Congressional Record; and how often they are mentioned or quoted in online sources, newspapers and education publications. This marks the 16th year that Education Week has published these annual rankings.
“It's an honor to be ranked on this list alongside so many influential education scholars, including my colleague, Dr. Blazar,” said Griffin. “It’s rewarding to receive this affirmation that the work we do as EdTerps to build more welcoming and effective educational environments is influencing public policy, scholarship and public awareness.”
A self-identified “problem-based researcher,” Griffin pursues research that promotes access, diversity, equity and justice in higher education, with a focus on mentorship, career development, and faculty and graduate student diversity. She co-authored the third edition of “On Being a Mentor: A Guide for Higher Education Faculty,” which is considered the definitive guide to mentoring in academia. Griffin’s work has been published in such highly regarded journals as the Review of Higher Education, Journal of College Student Development, Journal of Negro Education and Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, where she also served as editor from 2018 to 2022.
Her research has been funded by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, and she has collaborated and consulted with the National Academies, National Science Foundation, Association of American Universities, and American Council on Education, among others. As a highly sought-after education expert, she has been cited and quoted by media outlets including USA Today, Education Week, Inside Higher Education, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, and Forbes.
In 2025, Griffin was named an American Educational Research Association Fellow and an inaugural Association for the Study of Higher Education Fellow. Her numerous other honors include the Promising Scholar/Early Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education (2013) and the Diamond Honoree Award (2020), Outstanding Mentor to Graduate Students Award (2018) and Emerging Scholar Award (2010), all from the American College Personnel Association.
A former New York City high school English language arts teacher, Blazar pursues research that examines public resources and policies that support student outcomes and alleviate inequality. In particular, he focuses on characteristics of effective teachers and effective teaching; instructional resources that improve teacher practice and student outcomes; and labor market policies and practices that successfully recruit and retain teachers. Blazar is faculty director of the College of Education’s Maryland Equity Project, as well as an affiliate associate professor at the School of Public Policy.
His work has been published in Educational Researcher, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and Review of Educational Research, among other publications. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Educational Researcher and Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness; the latter named him Reviewer of the Year in 2025.
Funders of Blazar’s research include the Institute of Education Sciences, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, American Educational Research Association, Spencer Foundation, Google Foundation and Gates Foundation. His work has been covered in outlets including the Atlantic, Education Week, Fortune.com and Axios and cited in federal documents on diversifying the teacher workforce and recruiting, retaining and supporting teachers
Blazar received the Jean Flanigan Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Association for Education Finance and Policy (2017) and was recognized as an emerging education policy scholar by the Fordham Institute (2014).
“I am honored to be included in the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings. To me, this recognition underscores the value of translating research into insights that are accessible and useful to educators, policymakers and communities,” said Blazar. “I see it as an encouragement to keep engaging in and beyond academic spaces and to communicate evidence in ways that support more equitable opportunities for students.”
