Robert Maranto (B.S. Maryland, 1980; Ph.D. Minnesota, 1989) is the 21st Century Chair in Leadership at the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, and previously served as associate professor of political science and public administration at Villanova University. He has taught at Lafayette College, James Madison, and Southern Mississippi, and served President Clinton’s administration. Bob has done extensive research on education reform (particularly charter schools), political leadership, and civil service reform.

In concert with others he has written or edited scholarly books which have sold dozens of copies and are so boring that his own mother refused to read them. These include A Guide to Charter Schools (Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2006), The Second Term of George W. Bush: Prospects and Perils (Palgrave, 2006), Beyond a Government of Strangers: How Career Executives and Political Appointees Can Turn Conflict to Cooperation (Lexington, 2005), School Choice in the Real World: Lessons from Arizona Charter Schools (Westview 2001), and Radical Reform of the Civil Service (Lexington 2001). He is now co-editing two books likely to appeal to very different scholarly audiences, The Politically Correct University (AEI, forthcoming 2008), and Judging Bush (Stanford University Press, forthcoming 2009). He is also starting fieldwork on a book about reforming urban schools.

His several dozen refereed articles have appeared in journals including Teachers College Record, the American Review of Public Administration, the American Journal of Education, and Policy Studies Journal. His op-eds have appeared in newspapers including the Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Baltimore Sun, and WallStreetJournal.com, and in magazines including the Washington Monthly, Education Next, and Charter School Monthly. In 1987 Bob played for the University of Minnesota's National Champion College Bowl team. In his non-existent free time Bob likes hiking in the mountains. Bob is married to April Gresham Maranto. Their bosses, Tony and Maya, were born in 1999 and 2004 respectively. Bob can be reached at 479-575-3225, or at rmaranto@uark.edu.

• Maranto, R., R. Redding, and F. Hess eds. The Politically Correct University. Washington: AEI Press (forthcoming fall 2008).

• Maranto, R. and Maranto, A. From Markets to Clans: New Education Providers for a New Century. (working title, planned completion 2009 for publication in 2010).

• Maranto, R. (2005). "A Tale of Two Cities: School Privatization in Philadelphia and Chester," American Journal of Education. 111: 2 (February) 151-90.

• Hult, K.M. and R. Maranto. "Does Where You Stand Depend on Where You Sit?--- Comparing Individual and Organization Level Determinants of Attitudes in the Higher Civil Service," under revise and resubmit at Administration and Society.

• Maranto, R., Nathan A. Benefield, and Jason O'Brien. (July 17, 2007). "Edifice Complex: Where has all the money gone?" Harrisburg, PA: The Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives.