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. 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. A former editor of Review of Educational Research and a current senior editor of School Psychology Review, Dr. Worrell has served on numerous committees of several professional organizations in education and psychology.
Over the course of his career he has received several honors. He received the UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence and Equity in 2011. He is also a recipient of a Presidential Award from the National Association of School Psychologists (2009), a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association (2011), the Jack Bardon Distinguished Service Award from Division 16 [School Psychology] of APA (2013), 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), an Outstanding Service Award from the Caribbean and African Studies in Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association (2016), Excellence in Research Awards from the Mensa Education and Research Foundation (2013 [with Rena F. Subotnik and Paula Olszewski-Kubilius] and 2018 [with Jonathan Wai]), 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), the Marsilius Medal from the Marsilius College at Heidelberg University (2024), the Nadine Murphy Lambert Lifetime Achievement Award from Division 16 (2024), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mensa Education and Research Foundation (2024). Dr. Worrell served as the 2022 President of the American Psychological Association.
Author of over 350 scholarly works, 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 and the Legacy Book of the Year Award (Scholar Category) from the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented); 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 Tammy L. Hughes and Dante D. Dixson), and Motivation Myth Busters: Science-based Strategies to Boost Motivation in Yourself and Others (American Psychological Association, 2024; co-authored with Wendy S. Grolnick and Benjamin C. Heddy).
