Matthew J. Mayhew serves as the William Ray and Marie Adamson Flesher Professor of Educational Administration within the Department of Educational Studies at The Ohio State University's College of Education and Human Ecology. He received his BA from Wheaton College, Illinois; his master's degree from Brandeis University; and his PhD from the University of Michigan in 2004. Dr. Mayhew maintains an active research agenda examining how collegiate conditions, educational practices, and student experiences influence learning and democratic outcomes. Dr. Mayhew's research interests span higher education's impact on moral reasoning, pluralism, productive exchange across worldview differences, and innovation capacity. His work particularly focuses on religious, spiritual, and secular diversity in higher education settings, examining how these dimensions shape campus climate and student development. He has developed significant assessment tools such as the Interfaith, Spiritual, Religious, and Secular Campus Climate Index (INSPIRES) to measure institutional commitment to diverse worldview identities. His recent publications reveal a strong emphasis on innovation capacity development in students, religious pluralism in college settings, and the impact of campus environments on diverse student populations. The research demonstrates increasingly interdisciplinary approaches, with collaborations spanning engineering education, sustainability initiatives, and international comparisons of educational systems. American Educational Research Association Religion and Education SIG Emerging Scholar Award Diamond honoree by ACPA-College Student Educators International Dr. Mayhew has successfully secured over $20 million in research funding from prestigious sources including the National Science Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Andrew C. Mellon Foundation, the Templeton Religion Trust, and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. His major research projects include EDiCTS (Enhancing Diversity in Career and Technical STEM), EDiCTS 2.0, EmPOWERment, and InFORM (Including Faculty on Religious, Spiritual, & Secular Mattering). He serves as editor of the Digest of Recent Research and has held editorial board positions for the Journal of Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, and the Journal of College Student Development.












