Source: Stephen Benton, 785-532-5784, leroy@k-state.edu
Photo available. Contact media@k-state.edu or 785-532-6415.
News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-6415, bbohn@k-state.edu

Thursday, March 25, 2010

EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION RESEARCH EARNS K-STATE'S STEPHEN BENTON FELLOW STATUS IN THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION

MANHATTAN -- A Kansas State University professor is being honored for his contributions to education research.

Stephen Benton, professor of special education, counseling and student affairs, has been selected a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association. Benton is one of 67 scholars to earn the honor this year. His induction ceremony will be May 1 at the 91st annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Denver, Colo.

Fellow selection is based on exceptional scientific or scholarly contributions to education research or significant contributions to the field through the development of research opportunities and settings. Fellows must be nominated by peers, selected by the association's Fellows Program Committee and approved by the association's council.

The American Educational Research Association works to improve the educational process by encouraging scholarly inquiry related to education and evaluation and by promoting the dissemination and practical application of research results. The association has more than 25,000 members, whose broad range of disciplines include education, psychology, statistics, sociology, history, economics, philosophy, anthropology and political science.

Benton's research has covered a variety of education research topics, including college student drinking, reading and writing processes, note taking and college student mental health.

He is co-author of a test manual and the book "College Student Mental Health: Effective Services and Strategies Across Campus"; eight book chapters; numerous edited volumes; and more than 60 refereed journal articles and 60 professional papers. From 1991 to 2000 he served as editor of the journal Educational Psychology Review. His work has appeared in the Journal of Educational Psychology, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Psychology: Research and Practice, Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Journal of Educational Measurement, Research in the Teaching of English, Educational Psychology Review and many more. In addition, he has served on several journal editorial boards and has been a reviewer for numerous journals and professional associations.

Benton has presented his work at major conferences nationally and internationally, including for the American Psychological Association, International Conference on Teacher Education and the American Educational Research Association.

His research has been honored previously by the American Psychological Association, which named him a Fellow in 2007. Along with his memberships in the American Educational Research Association and the American Psychological Association, he is a member of the American Evaluation Association and Phi Kappa Phi honor society, and an associate member of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Benton joined K-State in 1983, earned the rank of associate professor in 1988 and was promoted to full professor in 1994. He has served multiple times as chair of his department. His many honors include a Professorial Performance Award in 2007, Excellence in Graduate Faculty Teaching Award in 1998, and the Award of Excellence from the University of Nebraska Alumni Association in 1997.

Since May 2008, Benton also has served a senior research officer at The IDEA Center, where he conducts and supervises research on large, messy data sets pertaining to student ratings of college and university faculty, and faculty and staff ratings of administrators.

Benton earned a bachelor's in secondary education, a master's in educational psychology and measurements and a doctorate in educational psychology, all from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.