Valerie Kinloch, dean of Pitt’s School of Education, was recognized as one of the nation’s most impactful education scholars in the newly released 2023 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings.

The ranking recognizes 200 university-based scholars for having the biggest influence on educational practice and policy in the past year. Kinloch, ranked No. 152, is the only person at the University of Pittsburgh to make the list. She was selected from an estimated pool of more than 20,000 university-based faculty who are conducting educational research in the U.S. 

Kinloch’s research focuses on the literacies, languages, cultures and community engagements of youth and adults, both inside and outside of schools. She is the author of numerous books on race and literacy; has received large amounts of grant funding from public, private, and governmental organizations; and has held numerous leadership appointments, including president of the National Council of Teachers of English, fellow of American Educational Research Association and the American Council on Education, co-chair of Remake Learning, and trustee at Johnson C. Smith University. 

Now in its 13th year, the annual RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings are released by Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute and a blogger at Education Week. 

Scholars are scored across nine categories, including the number of widely cited articles, books, or papers a scholar has authored; books a authored, co-authored or edited; newspaper mentions; education press mentions; and more.

Kinloch joined Pitt Education in July 2017 after serving as an associate dean and professor at The Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology.

During her tenure as dean, Pitt Education has adopted a new mission-vision and strategic plan to guide the school, reorganized its academic departments and staff roles, reimagined its student engagement and financial operations units, developed a new four-year undergraduate teaching degree, and underwent a significant renovation to modernize its office spaces in Posvar Hall.

Read more about Kinloch on the School of Education website.