Three college faculty highly ranked for work that improves lives
James L. Moore III is a well-known member of the National Science Foundation's executive leadership team. On loan from the college, he serves as the assistant director of the Directorate for STEM Education.
With a budget of $1.2 billion, he guides the directorate’s nationwide investments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in education. Grants focus on educational research, formal and informal education, broadening participation and workforce development.
At Ohio State, Moore is a professor of counselor education and the inaugural EHE Distinguished Professor of Urban Education. For his ongoing public influence on education, he is tied for No. 70 this year in the RHSU-Edu Scholar Rankings. He advanced from his ranking last year of No. 80.
Donna Y. Ford is legendary for her scholarship and for being highlighted in the media. She has made more than 2,000 presentations at professional conferences and organizations and in school districts.
She has co-authored or co-edited 14 books and published nearly 350 academic articles or book chapters. Those publications have more than 100,000 reads and more than 7,000 citations, according to ResearchGate.
As the EHE Distinguished Professor in gifted and special education, Ford advocates for “rigor and relevance for every student.”
The Edu Scholar Rankings placed Ford at No. 83 this year.
Lori Patton Davis is one of the most highly respected, accomplished scholars in higher education and student affairs. In 2021, the American Educational Research Association invited her to deliver its 18th Annual Brown Lecture. She presented it in person in Washington, D.C., to a crowd. A large virtual audience from across the nation attended as well.
Her lecture was then published in the association’s journal, Educational Researcher.
For her public influence, Patton Davis was ranked No. 162 in this year’s Edu Scholar Rankings.
According to Education Week, the list ranks “the university-based scholars in the United States who did the most last year to shape educational practice and policy. Simply making this list of 200 scholars is noteworthy, given the 20,000 or more who might qualify.”
“Our three faculty are so prominent, they appear year after year in the rankings,” said Don Pope-Davis, dean of the college. “They demonstrate an unfailing dedication to supporting the success of students at all levels. They contribute to excellence and innovation in their fields and advocate for a just and equitable world.”
“We salute them and encourage their continued scholarship in their fields.”
Moore is dedicated professor of counselor education, STEM education advocate
James L. Moore III joined the college in 2002 as an assistant professor in the Counselor Education Program. As he rapidly moved through the faculty ranks, he quickly became a household name for his research. He specializes in studies to improve school counseling, urban education, gifted education, multicultural education and counseling, higher education and STEM education.
He soon became known for preparing future school counselors to have a positive influence on K-12 students.
Mac Stewart, a retired Ohio State leader and PhD alumnus of the college, recognized Moore’s research on Black males and his capacity for positive impact on the group. He hired him to become the first director of the university’s Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male.
Moore took on directing the center in addition to his faculty responsibilities. An expansion of what had been the university’s Black Male Initiative, the center works to improve retention and graduation rates of Black males.
Stewart said he believed Moore could take the center to the next level.
Moore has excelled in this regard. He produced peer-reviewed research about best practices to support the success of African American men in college and beyond. He added to and launched programs, now nationally recognized, that create student community and belonging within academia.
For example, the Early Arrival Program welcomes African-American men as they join the university. It creates a cohort that helps them form immediate connections with their peers. It also orients them to academia and its expectations.
As a professor, Moore has published over 180 publications, including seven books. For his scholarship, research and thought leadership, he received many distinctions, awards and honors from prestigious professional societies.
These include the American Educational Research Association, American Counseling Association, National Association for Gifted Children, National Association for Multicultural Education, American Council on Education and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.
Moore remains executive director of the Bell Center, as he works for the National Science Foundation. To date, nearly 40 institutions of higher learning, school districts, nonprofits and governmental agencies have contacted the center for counsel and assistance.
From 2011 to 2015, he contributed to the university in another prominent manner. He was vice provost, chief diversity officer and leader of Ohio State’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. He launched more student, faculty and staff opportunities from the office — one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most comprehensive of its kind.
"James L. Moore III brings great leadership skills and vision to our agency ...” said foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan in 2022 when Moore joined the directorate. He “is poised to develop new mechanisms and models for reaching the missing millions in our country.”
“His efforts will inspire the next-generation STEM workforce as they unleash their potential and advance discovery and innovation across the United States.”
Moore continues to conduct research with his colleagues in the college. This expands his peer-reviewed publications, which according to Google Scholar have been cited more than 8,000 times. Throughout his career, he has secured nearly $50 million in project funding. He has delivered more than 200 scholarly presentations and lectures throughout the world.
He is often quoted or featured in popular media, including with colleague Donna Y. Ford. This further broadens his public influence.
Ford recognized as one of 12 Black women educators to know
Donna Y. Ford was not a newcomer when she arrived at Ohio State in August 2019. She had joined the faculty in 1997, after serving at two other universities since her doctorate. With her rising prominence, Vanderbilt University recruited her in 2004, where she further built her expertise.
Now back in Columbus, she is recognized widely for her scholarship. For instance, Ford has over 300 peer-reviewed articles or book chapters and has co-authored or co-edited 14 books. Those publications have had more than 100,000 reads and more than 7,000 citations.
She has given more than 2,000 presentations at professional conferences and organizations and in school districts.
One who is so prominent receives numerous awards. Among them, the American Educational Research Association presented Ford with its Early Career Award as she forged her expertise. As she excelled, the association bestowed its Career Award.
In 2023, Ford received the Palmarium Award at the annual Gifted Education Policy Symposium and Conference. The award is for exemplifying a future in which giftedness is understood, embraced and systematically nurtured everywhere. She then delivered the Palmarium Keynote.
In 2023, the Word in Black, a collaboration of the nation's leading Black news publishers, honored Ford. She was named one of “12 Black Women Educators You Should Know.”
Like Moore, Ford regularly collaborates on research articles with colleagues within the college and beyond. She then amplifies results in popular media. On the site Newswise, she and Moore discussed their findings about Black boys and gifted education.
Their study documented some of the reasons many Black boys are denied access to advanced learning programs. Moreover, they often are misdirected into special education.
“Black boys make up 9% of our school students, but only 3.5% of students in gifted-and-talented education,” she said on Newswise. “So, we're talking about the most underrepresented of any group.”
Ford understands students who are gifted, Black and poor. To address this issue, she created the Dr. Donna Ford’s Equity Formula for school districts.
She said the formula can be used “to set goals for increasing access to gifted education without using quotas. It “provides a targeted formula to adopt and set minimal representation goals to address discrepancies,” she wrote in Gifted Child Today. “Once the goal is calculated, school personnel must examine barriers to recruitment and retention.”
Ford regularly writes op-eds for Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. She often partners with the college’s alumna Renae D. Mayes, associate professor of counseling at University of Arizona.
One recent piece, with Mayes as first author, addressed how to combat Black youth suicide, which is on the rise. It is titled “Black Youth Mental Health: Understanding and Being Culturally Responsive to Promote Black Joy.”
“Donna is an incredible scholar whose advocacy is more than scholarship,” Mayes said. “It's a clarion call to action across everything she does. It's not just about gifted Black students, but Black students holistically. She makes it clear across all aspects of her work that Black students matter and deserve to be seen and nurtured.”
Mayes said she benefits from Ford’s mentoring as she rises in her academic career. “She sees this work as so important that she willingly gives her time to mentor future generations. She continues to gain momentum as a senior scholar, something to which we should all aspire.“
Patton Davis named among Top 35 Women in Higher Education
Lori Patton Davis was already a nationally known name when she joined the college in 2019. That same year, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education named her as one of the Top 35 Women in Higher Education.
Patton Davis made history when she was elected in 2017 as the first Black woman to lead the then 43-year-old Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE).
The professor of higher education and student affairs is a sought-after expert for her cross-cutting scholarship on a range of education topics.
“I try to be a publicly engaged scholar,” Patton Davis said. “There's the work that goes in (academic) journals. But there are also op-eds that translate research to a broader audience. I try to maintain a social media presence to stay abreast of pressing educational issues and to connect with people within and beyond academia.”
In 2016, she addressed an important but little-studied issue. Her peer-reviewed articles discussed how Black undergraduate women reported missing receive little or no attention from media and police. In contrast, white undergraduate women in similar circumstances often receive more widespread media and police attention.
A recent example of her op-eds appeared in January in Diverse. She wrote about one of her prominent research topics: Black women and girls in education. This piece addressed how Dr. Claudine Gay’s resignation from the Harvard presidency possibly saved her life.
Patton Davis cited the untimely death of two other Black female college presidents in 2023. Her research shows the stress that is placed on Black women who attain leadership roles. “Once hired into the role, (Gay) was allowed no space to flourish and be the president that Harvard claimed to value and respect,” Patton Davis wrote.
Scholars share Patton Davis’ research on a large scale. As evidence, Google Scholar reports that her work has been cited more than 15,000 times by other scholars.
One frequently cited work is the third edition of Student Development in College: Theory, Research, and Practice. With Patton Davis as lead author, it is considered the most widely adopted book in higher education graduate degree programs. It is also named an essential reference for college administrators.
A bestseller in its category, the book is changing how student development theory is taught in higher education and student affairs programs.
Her list of awards is voluminous. Among them, in 2016, ASHE also honored her with its Mildred E. Garcia Award for Exemplary Scholarship (Senior Level).
In 2020, she was inducted into the National Academy of Education and selected as a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association. That same year, ACPA-College Student Educators, International bestowed on her its Contribution to Knowledge Award and honored her as a Senior Scholar.
The NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education organization presented her with its George D. Kuh Pillar of the Profession Award in 2023.
She engages the field with fresh critical perspectives and new frames of reference by which to interrogate scholarly work.
“Dr. Patton Davis is a game-changer, disrupting hegemonic patterns of thought through her scholarship and organizational behaviors through her practice,” said Matthew Mayhew. He is the college’s William Ray and Marie Adamson Flesher Professor in Educational Administration and a professor of higher education and student affairs.
“She is a major player in the field of higher education and brings her distinctive mark of excellence to our program.”