I am pleased to announce that the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas will have two new faculty members. Both Jonathan Wai and Albert Cheng will be joining us in August 2018 as Assistant Professors in Education Policy. Jonathan Wai will also hold the title of Endowed Chair in Education Policy. The current holder of that endowed chair, Gary Ritter, will be leaving in August to become the Dean of the School of Education at St. Louis University.
Jonathan received his B.A. in Psychology and Mathematics from Claremont McKenna College followed by an M.A. in Psychology and Evaluation from Claremont Graduate University. He then earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from Vanderbilt University. Following that, Jonathan was a post-doc at Duke University and remained there as a Research Scientist affiliated with Duke’s Talent Identification Program (TIP), which strives to identify and offer enriching opportunities to gifted students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Jonathan’s research covers a variety of topics, such as gifted programs and the role of intelligence in educational success, and has been widely cited.
Albert received his B.A. in Mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley followed by an M.A. in Education from Biola University. He taught math in a school in California before enrolling in and completing his Ph.D. in Education Policy from the University of Arkansas. Following that, Albert was a post-doc at Harvard University in the Program on Education Policy and Governance. Albert’s research covers a variety of topics, including path-breaking ways of measuring non-cognitive or character skills and the role of mission in school success.
We are sad to bid farewell to Gary Ritter but extremely excited about these new additions to our faculty.
Jay P. Greene's Blog 
Very impressive.