Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders
Date of this Version
11-3-2016
Citation
Published in Educational Psychology Review 28 (2016), pp 673–690.
doi:10.1007/s10648-016-9390-2
Abstract
Gregg Schraw passed away on September 15, 2016 at age 62 after a battle with cancer. Gregg was a Barrick Distinguished Professor of educational psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He completed a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and became a certified teacher. Later, he completed a M.S. in instructional science (1986), a M.S. in applied statistics (1988), and finally a Ph.D. in cognition and instruction, each from the University of Utah. The progression of his degrees was a prelude to a professional career that was characterized by his emphasis on the use of theory, design, and measurement to investigate practical issues in education. Upon completing his Ph.D. in 1990, he accepted a position at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln and remained there until 2000, when he accepted a position at UNLV. He had a tremendous positive impact, professionally and personally, on those who interacted with him. His impact extended to colleagues and graduate students alike. Gregg was a prolific scholar and an exceptionally versatile methodologist. He published over 100 research articles, book chapters, and edited books in the areas of human learning and testing. A distinguishing feature of his academic career was his ability to publish high-impact articles on multiple programs of research using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. This is evidenced by his publication record across a range of topics, including but not limited to metacognition (e.g., Nietfeld and Schraw 2002; Schraw 2009; Schraw and Dennison 1994a; Schraw, Dunkle, and Bendixen 1995; Schraw and Moshman 1995), situational interest (e.g., Schraw, Bruning, and Svoboda 1995; Schraw and Lehman 2001), choice and learner engagement (e.g., Schraw, Flowerday, and Lehman 2001), student and teacher beliefs (e.g., Olafson and Schraw 2006), visual displays (e.g., Schraw, McCrudden, and Robinson 2013), academic procrastination (Schraw, Wadkins, and Olafson 2007), and text relevance (e.g., McCrudden and Schraw 2007; Schraw and Dennison 1994b). As can be seen in this list, he enjoyed pursuing multiple areas of research. This is ironic given that Gregg was a big fan of K. Anders Ericsson’s work on expertise development (see Schraw 2005 for Gregg’s interview of Ericsson), whose work reveals that experts focus their energies on toward a singular aim. Gregg encouraged his graduate students to also pursue multiple areas because he believed that peoples’ interests likely change or diversify over their careers.
Contributors: Rich Lapan, Professor, University of Massachusetts-Amherst • Woody Trathen, Professor, Appalachian State University • Ralph Reynolds, Professor, Northern Iowa University • Roger Bruning, Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • David Moshman, Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • Daniel H. Robinson, Director of Research and Measurement, University of Texas-Austin • Rayne Sperling, Associate Professor, The Pennsylvania State University • Terri Flowerday, Professor, University of New Mexico • Steve Lehman, CEO, EdSolutions LLC • Sara Finney, Professor, James Madison University • M. Cecil Smith, Professor, West Virginia University • Joel R. Levin, Professor Emeritus, University of Arizona • Kendall Hartley, Associate Dean Graduate College, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • Krista Muis, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair, McGill University • Louis Nadelson, Instructor of Statistics, Colorado Mesa University • Joann Lunn, Professor, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia • Antonio Gutierrez, Assistant Professor, Georgia Southern University • Chad W. Buckendahl, Partner, ACS Ventures, LLC • Matthew T. McCrudden, Associate Professor, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand • Lisa Bendixen, Associate Professor, University of Nevada-Las Vegas
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