Executive Committee
The Executive Committee oversees the activities of the UT Dallas Education Research Center. In this capacity the Committee’s work includes reviewing proposed research projects, making recommendations regarding data access, identifying opportunities for collaboration, and sharing their extensive knowledge about research topics and methods.
Executive Committee Members
Eric Hanushek
Brian J.L. Berry
Steven Rivkin
Paul Jargowsky
Jim Murdoch
Bryan Hobson Wildenthal
Dan O'Brien
Eric Hanushek
Committee Chairman, Professor of Economics, Stanford University
Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow and a member of the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education.
A leader in the development of economic analysis of educational issues, his research spans the impact of teacher quality, high-stakes accountability, and class-size reduction on achievement. He pioneered measuring teacher quality on the basis of student achievement, the basis for research into the value-added of teachers and schools. His work on school efficiency is central to debates about school finance adequacy and equity, while analyses of the economic impact of school outcomes motivate both national and international educational policy design.
Brian J. L. Berry
Dean - School of Economic, Political & Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas
Brian J. L. Berry is the Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor and Dean of the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Berry’s early urban and regional research helped spark the scientific revolution that occurred in geography and urban research in the 1960s. In the early 1960s he became the world’s most frequently cited geographer, a ranking maintained for more than a quarter-century.
After moving to Texas his inquiries turned to long-wave rhythms in the economy, society and polity. Throughout his career he has been concerned with bridging theory and practice and has been heavily involved in urban and regional planning in both advanced and developing countries. Frequently called on as an advisor, consultant, and expert witness, his contributions have been made in cities as diverse as Chicago and Calcutta, Jakarta and Melbourne and his regional development expertise has been applied in areas from Appalachia to Magellanes to Indonesia.
Dr. Berry is the author of more than 500 books, articles, planning reports and other professional publications.
Steven Rivkin
Associate Director for Research, Amherst University
Steven G. Rivkin is Professor of Economics and Chair of the Department of Economics at Amherst College. He is also a Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and is a part of the CALDER Texas team.
Dr. Rivkin’s main areas of interest are the economics and sociology of education, where he has written on a wide range of issues including teacher quality and labor markets, school desegregation, class size, special education, charter schools, student mobility, and school spending. He has authored and co-authored numerous publications on factors related to student outcomes.
Paul Jargowsky
Professor of Public Policy, University of Texas at Dallas
Paul Jargowsky received a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University in 1991 and is currently Professor of Political Economy at The University of Texas at Dallas. He also directs the Bruton Center for Development Studies at UT Dallas, a research center specializing in spatial aspects of social science research.
His principal research interests are the geographic concentration of poverty, residential segregation by race and class, and barriers to economic opportunity. Dr. Jargowsky’s current research examines the role of suburban development patterns on access to opportunity, methodological innovations in the measurement of segregation, and the impacts of Texas community colleges on educational attainment and labor market outcomes.
Jim Murdoch
Professor of Economics & Public Policy, University of Texas at Dallas
Jim Murdoch received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wyoming in 1982. He has authored or co-authored numerous scholarly articles in the areas of environmental economics, public economics, and defense economics in such journals as Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Economica, Economic Inquiry, Land Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.
His research reflects an applied econometric approach with some emphasis on policy analysis and prescription. Murdoch's current research concerns applications of spatial econometric methods and local economic development.
Before coming to UT Dallas in 1991, Murdoch held teaching and administrative positions at the University of Louisiana – Monroe and Auburn University at Montgomery.
Bryan Hobson Wildenthal
Executive Vice President & Provost, University of Texas at Dallas
Dr. Bryan Hobson Wildenthal has served as Executive Vice President and Provost at The University of Texas at Dallas since 1999. He came to UT Dallas in 1992 as Vice President for Academic Affairs and was named Provost in 1994. He is the chief academic officer for the university, providing leadership and services to the academic program, research, and faculty matters.
Prior to UT Dallas, Bryan Hobson Wildenthal held various university positions from postdoctoral research to Dean. These universities include The University of New Mexico, Drexel University, Michigan State University, Texas A&M, Rice University and The University of Kansas.
He has been a Fellow of the American Physical Society since 1973, and has held visiting positions at Brookhaven, Munich, Heidelberg, Darmstadt, Orsay, Oxford, Los Alamos, Manchester and Sao Paulo. He has been awarded both a Senior U.S. Fellowship from Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and a Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Dan O’Brien
Director – Texas Schools Project, University of Texas at Dallas
Dan O'Brien is the Director of the Texas Schools Project and The University of Texas at Dallas Texas Education Research Center. Over the past decade he has helped to develop the Texas Schools Project data base, a compendium of individual level data for all Texas public school, college and university students.
A retired Assistant Professor of Economics, Dan teaches econometrics and mathematical economics at UT Dallas. Dan's research is focused on understanding and improving the educational attainment of minority and economically disadvantaged students. This includes studies of teacher quality, reading programs, early education, summer fallback, transition to middle school, high school completion, college preparation, college choice, transition to college, concurrent enrollment and affirmative action. In addition, Dan works with school districts as an external evaluator and to develop value added measures of student progress.
Prior to joining UT Dallas, Dan spent 25 years working in information technology.
Page last updated on July 24, 2009.
