• University Research Professor of Education, University of Kentucky

Neal H. Hutchens is a University Research Professor at the University of Kentucky, where he serves as a faculty member in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation. His research focuses on the intersections of higher education law, policy, and practice, with much of his scholarship centered on issues of free speech and academic freedom in higher education. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in education policy and a J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law.

Among his publications, Hutchens is a member of the author team for The Law of Higher Education: Essentials for Legal and Administrative Practice, a leading legal treatise on higher education law. Along with his academic writing, Hutchens has written for publications that, in addition to The Conversation, include The Hechinger Report, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Ed. He is regularly asked to comment on news stories involving legal issues in higher education.

• 2022–present Professor of Education, University of Kentucky
• 2025–present Professor of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation, University of Kentucky
• 2016–2022 Professor of Education, University of Mississippi
• 2013–2016 Associate Professor of Education, Pennsylvania State University

• 2007 University of Maryland, Ph.D.
• 2002 University of Alabama, J.D.

• American Association of University Professors
• Education Law Association
• National Association of College and University Attorneys
• American Educational Research Association
• Association for the Study of Higher Education

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