Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE) Professor Thomas S. Dee has been appointed to an endowed chair, the highest honor the university can bestow on faculty.

Dee was named the Barnett Family Professor of Education. Dean Dan Schwartz announced the appointment at a faculty meeting.

“Professor Dee is one of the leading economists of education in the nation and a major force in education policy research,” said Schwartz. “His expertise and scholarship has helped inform policy to create better and more effective educational systems.”

Dee’s work uses quantitative evidence to inform contemporary policy debates in education. His research interests range widely and include the analysis of state and federal policies related to school accountability and reform, teacher effectiveness and education finance, as well as studies done in partnership with school districts implementing innovative practices. He teaches courses at GSE in quantitative methods and policy analysis.

He came to Stanford in 2012 and currently serves as faculty director of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities. He is also a senior fellow with the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) and a research associate with the programs on education, children and health at the National Bureau of Economic Research. From 2015 to 2018 he served as the GSE’s Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and as director of the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA).

Prior to joining Stanford he was a professor at the University of Virginia. He has also taught at Swarthmore College, where he earned his BA, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his MA and PhD from the University of Maryland. 

The professorship, previously held by Professor Susanna Loeb, was established in 2012 by Karrie and Larry Barnett, ’78; Annie and Jim Barnett, ’80, JD/MBA ’84; and Laurey Barnett Treiger, ’81, and Brian Treiger, along with matching university funds. Siblings Larry, Jim and Laurey are all Stanford alumni who say their late parents instilled in them a love of education.

“My family continues to believe not only in the transformative qualities of education but also in the GSE’s ability to change lives across the educational spectrum,” said Laurey Barnett Treiger. “We are very pleased to be able to leverage our investment in support of Professor Dee’s inspiring and important work.”