Daion Daniels

Daion Daniels

211 Graduate Education Building

College of Education and Health Professions

Fayetteville, AR 72701

daiond@uark.edu

Daion is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Education Policy program in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. A native of the inner city of Indianapolis, Indiana, Daion graduated in 2022 from Ball State University with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a minor in Marketing. Immediately after graduation, he entered the Ph.D. program and continued his research on school choice. Daion personally understands the benefits and value of school choice for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, having used a private school voucher to attend a Catholic high school in Indianapolis from 2014 to 2018. In March 2025, he was appointed by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to serve a seven-year term on the Arkansas Black History Commission—becoming the first current student in the Department of Education Reform’s history to receive such an appointment. Upon his early graduation this December, Daion will become the youngest student to receive a Ph.D. from the department, at just 25 years old.