Faculty Recognition Awards
Faculty Recognition Awards are intended for faculty early in their careers who have demonstrated substantive contributions to the university through achievements in scholarly research and/or creative endeavors; excellence as a teacher, advisor and mentor; and distinguished participation in service activities of the university. Eligible candidates include full professors with no more than four years at that rank, associate professors and assistant professors. Up to five awards of $1,000 each are made each year.
Faculty Recognition Award, Brian Jacob
Called a brilliant economist and scholar, Brian Jacob has made important contributions to scientific understanding and policy debates about school choice, education accountability reform, teacher labor markets, and the consequences of other social policies such as housing vouchers. Using knowledge gained as a policy analyst for the New York City mayor's office and as a teacher in East Harlem, Jacob identifies natural experiments that answer important questions in education and social policy and publishes the results in premiere economic journals.
The Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy, professor of public policy, director of the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) in the Ford School; professor of economics, LSA; and professor of education, School of Education, is a nationally recognized expert on test-based accountability, which seeks to hold schools and teachers accountable for student success. Jacob's research includes development of an algorithm to identify teacher cheating in accountability testing, the impact of mandatory summer school and repeating a grade on student achievement, and the effectiveness of school administrators in assessing teachers. Jacob has developed innovative graduate-level courses in education policy. In his practicum course, students recently analyzed future directions for education in Michigan for the Citizens Research Council of Michigan. In another, students use an economic lens to examine the potential impact of popular approaches to education reform. He also is director of CLOSUP, which collects survey responses and regularly disseminates policy briefs that promote best practices.
Jacob serves on the executive committee of the National Poverty Center, on the editorial boards of the American Economic Journal and Education Finance and Policy, and is a research associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research. In 2008 Jacob received the David N. Kershaw Award, presented every two years to persons under age 40 who have made distinguished contributions to the field of public policy.
[Read the University Record article]