The field’s 200 most influential scholars are ranked in Education Week each year. More than 20,000 education professors work at U.S. colleges and universities. Released today, the annual list reflects those who are ranked in the top 1%. Shaun Harper, the USC Race and Equity Center’s founder and chief research scientist, is #3 in the 2026 overall rankings.
Harper has been on the list every year since 2014. This year’s ranking is his highest. Fourth place in 2023 was his previous best.
In addition to the overall list, top ten scholars are ranked within five subfields. For the second consecutive year, Harper is #1 in Government and Education Policy.
“This recognition reflects the depth, relevance and transformative influence of Professor Harper’s scholarship and leadership in advancing equity and social justice in education,” says Pedro Noguera, Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education. “Through his research, public leadership and sustained advocacy, Shaun has helped shape national conversations about race, equity and inclusion, while equipping educators, policymakers and institutions with the insights and resolve needed to build a more just and equitable educational system.” Noguera is #20 on this year’s overall list and #3 in the Sociology of Education subfield ranking.
Rankings are based on Google Scholar citation counts, the number of times each scholar’s publications were assigned in university courses, total number of books published, book sales, mentions in newspapers within and beyond the field of education, internet presence, and appearances in the federal Congressional Record.
“Because public influence is so much more important to me than is academic acclaim, I greatly appreciate this annual recognition of my work,” shares Harper. “Most important to me, though, is the actual impact my work has on people. I am and always will be my people’s professor. Nothing matters more to me than doing serious, transformative work that improves their lives in educational institutions, workplaces, and our broader society.”
Holder of the Clifford and Betty Allen Chair in Urban Leadership, Harper is one of 15 Provost Professors, an elite cadre of distinguished interdisciplinary scholars who teach in two or more academic schools at the University of Southern California. He is on faculties in the Rossier School of Education, Price School of Public Policy, and Marshall School of Business. In 2022, USC President Carol Folt named him University Professor, a distinction bestowed only to 30 of 4,700 full-time USC faculty members.
Harper served on President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper national advisory council. In 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom named him to the statewide taskforce on equity, higher education, and COVID-19 recovery. President Joe Biden appointed him to a six-year term on the National Board for Education Sciences in 2022. Harper has testified to Congress four times. His publications have been highlighted on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and cited in numerous amicus briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court. He also has advised White House staff, federal agency employees, and state legislators on policies related to college access, opportunity, and student success.
“These rankings are the latest in a long list of well-deserved accolades that honor Professor Harper’s insightful, groundbreaking scholarship,” notes Christopher Boone, Dean of the USC Price School of Public Policy and the C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Chair. “His research has been and remains a vital component in the ongoing discussion about how to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to realize the American dream.”
In addition to his senior scholar role in the USC Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy and Government Service, Harper has been a National Education Policy Center Fellow since 2016. He served as the 2020-21 American Educational Research Association (AERA) president and the 2016-17 Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) president. He was inducted into the National Academy of Education in 2021.
Harper’s 13 books include, Let’s Talk About DEI: Productive Disagreements About America’s Most Polarizing Topics (Teachers College Press, 2025) and The Big Lie About Race in America’s Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2024). During his 14 years as its executive director, the USC Race and Equity Center generated over $51 million in grants, contracts, and investments.
In addition to his direct engagement with policymakers, Harper also influences various publics via extensive media engagement. More than four million people have read articles he has written for the Washington Post, TIME magazine, Forbes, Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Inside Higher Ed, CNN.com, and other major press outlets. Furthermore, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and The Atlantic are among the hundreds of newspapers and magazines in which Harper has been featured or quoted as a subject-matter expert. In addition, he has been interviewed on CNN, MSNBC, ESPN, PBS NewsHour, and NPR.
“Politicized attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion pose massive threats to our democracy,” Harper adds. “I am leveraging my research, networks, and influence to do all I can to help stop the spread of destructive policies that will ruin people’s lives and careers, further divide Americans, and cost the government and workplaces tons of money on litigation and recovery efforts.”
