WEB NEWS RELEASE
COLLEGE PARK, MD (March 2010) - The College of Education's reputation of stellar academic excellence continues to rise as its Educational Psychology doctoral program in the Department of Human Development ranked first in the nation in scholarly productivity for the third time in a row.
Published in the January 2010 issue of Contemporary Educational Psychology, the rankings were based on institutions' publication of articles in education journals during the five-year time period from 2003-2008.
"I believe this ranking reflects our faculty's strong commitment to doing high quality research on a variety of topics of central importance to the educational psychology field," said Allan Wigfield, department chair of Human Development. "It also reflects the faculty's commitment to involving our graduate students in our research and publishing efforts as many of our publications are with our students."
Studies show that productivity is an important factor considered by prospective graduate students when selecting a university. It is also linked to increases in a variety of areas such as student diversity, master's degrees granted, and funds raised for development.
Alexander
In addition to institutions' productivity, the scholarly activity of individual faculty within the United States and internationally was also assessed. Professor Patricia Alexander, holder of the Jean Mullan Professorship of Literacy, provided another boost for the College with her ranking as the second most productive author in the world.
"I am especially proud of Dr. Alexander's prolific scholarship and her influence on the field of educational psychology," said Wigfield. "We are very pleased with this recognition of our productivity, and will work hard to maintain this high level of scholarly activity."
To learn more about the Educational Psychology specialization, visit: www.education.umd.edu/EDHD/grad_edpsy.php.
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For more information on the College of Education, visit: www.education.umd.edu
or contact
Halima Cherif, Assistant Director for Communications, at: hcherif@umd.edu
