ASU professor named incoming editor of Journal of Educational Psychology

Waiting for a flight was never so exciting for Steve Graham as during a layover in Newark, N.J. in May 2013. It was there, before boarding a plane to Norway, that he found out he had been named incoming editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology.

“The head of publications at the American Psychological Association called to offer me the editorship,” he said. “I was pretty excited when I found out. I consider this to be the top research journal in education, and the fact that it’s a journal of the APA carries some prestige as well.”

Graham, who received his doctorate in education from the University of Kansas, will officially assume his new role on Jan. 1, 2014, and will serve for seven years. He and his editorial board will be responsible for considering about 500 manuscripts each year for publication.

While his specific research interests include writing development and instruction, learning disabilities and the development of self-regulation, Graham said he looks forward to reviewing the broad array of research submitted. He hopes it will inspire and impact his work, and that the published pieces will do the same for the research, practice and innovation of others.

“A journal, in itself, helps to promote discovery by sharing new ideas and new ways of thinking with scholars in the field, who then share those ideas with practitioners,” he said. “It has a huge impact in terms of practice and innovation.”

This will be the fourth academic journal Graham has edited. And while he’s certainly no stranger to the editorial world, he said he will welcome advice from his wife, Karen Harris, who served as editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology from 2002-2008, when shaping the publication.

The couple share the Mary Emily Warner Professorship in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University – both joined the faculty in 2012.

“My wife and I were very excited about the level of innovation that exists here,” Graham said of their decision to become a part of the Teachers College. “There’s a chance to do things differently, especially in terms of teacher education. Having that freedom to think in new ways is very energizing.”

Graham channels that energy into his research and teaching, and soon it will also fuel his editorial work. One of his first goals in his role with the Journal of Educational Psychology will be to add more qualitative research to the publication, which he said has historically focused on publishing primarily “quantitative, large-scale research.”

He added, “I would like to see more balance to reflect the high quality of research methodologies and traditions that exist.”

An accomplished author and academic scholar, Graham’s credentials are many, including being a fellow of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities and the American Educational Research Association. He is also the recipient of career research awards from the Council for Exceptional Children and the Special Education Research Interest Group within the American Educational Research Association.