Research Expertise and Interest
development, education, cognition, academic talent development, adolescence, African American, at-risk youth, English-speaking Caribbean, ethnic identity, gifted, psychosocial development, racial identity, school psychology, teacher effectiveness, Trinidad and Tobago, time perspective
Research Description
Frank C. Worrell, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where he serves as Faculty Director of the School Psychology Program, the Academic Talent Development Program, and the California College Preparatory Academy. A certified school psychologist and a licensed psychologist, his main appointment is in the Berkeley School of Education with an affiliate appointment in the Social and Personality Area in the Psychology Department. Author of over 300 scholarly works, Dr. Worrell is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and six divisions (5, 15, 16, 44, 45, & 52) of the American Psychological Association (APA), and an elected member of the Society for the Study of School Psychology and the National Academy of Education. He received the UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence and Equity in 2011. A former editor of Review of Educational Research, Dr. Worrell is a recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Association for Gifted Children (2013), the Distinguished Contributions to Research Award from Division 45 [the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race] of APA (2015), the Nadine Lambert Outstanding School Psychologist Award (Region II) from the California Association of School Psychologists (2016), the Outstanding International Psychologist Award from Division 52 [International Psychology] of APA (2018), the Palmarium Award in Gifted Education from the University of Denver (2019), the award for Outstanding Contributions to the Profession of School Psychology from the Council of Directors of School Psychology Programs (2023), an Honorary Doctorate from Heidelberg University (2023), and the Marsilius Medal from the Marsilius College at Heidelberg University (2024). He was the 2022 President of the American Psychological Association. His books include Achieving College Dreams: How a University-Charter District Partnership Created an Early College High-School (Oxford University Press, 2016; co-edited with Rhona S. Weinstein), Talent Development as a Framework for Gifted Education: Implications for Best Practices and Applications in Schools (Prufrock Press, 2018; co-edited with Paula Olszewski-Kubilius and Rena F. Subotnik, and winner of the 2019 National Association for Gifted Children [NAGC] Scholar Book of the Year Award), The Psychology of High Performance: Developing Human Potential into Domain-Specific Talent (American Psychological Association, 2019; co-edited with Rena F. Subotnik and Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, and winner of the 2020 NAGC Scholar Book of the Year Award), The Cambridge Handbook of Applied School Psychology (Cambridge University Press, 2020; co-edited with Tmmy L. Hughes and Dante D. Dixson), and Motivation Myth Busters: Science-based Strategies to Boost Motivation in Yourself and Others (American Psychological Association, June 2024; co-authored with Wendy S. Grolnick and Benjamin C. Heddy).
