William R. Shadish was a distinguished professor and founding faculty member at the University of California, Merced. He received his bachelor's degree in sociology from Santa Clara University in 1972 and his M.S. (1975) and Ph.D. (1978) degrees from Purdue University in clinical psychology with a minor in statistics and measurement. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in methodology and program evaluation at Northwestern University from 1978-1981. His recent research interests included experimental and quasi-experimental design, the empirical study of methodological issues, program evaluation, and the methodology and practice of meta-analysis. He co-authored (with T.D. Cook & D.T. Campbell, 2002) Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference, (with T.D. Cook & L.C. Leviton, 1991) Foundations of Program Evaluation, and (with L. Robinson & C. Lu, 1997) ES: A Computer Program and Manual for Effect Size Calculation. He co-edited seven other volumes and authored nearly 200 articles and chapters.

He was the founding secretary-treasurer of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology (2005-2010) and served as president in 2014. He was 2015 president of the Society for Multivariate Experimental Psychology and 1997 president of the American Evaluation Association. He was winner of the 1994 Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award for Evaluation Theory from the American Evaluation Association, the 2000 Robert Ingle Award for service to the American Evaluation Association, the 1994 and 1996 Outstanding Research Publication Awards from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the 2002 Donald T. Campbell Award for Innovations in Methodology from the Policy Studies Organization, the 2009 Frederick Mosteller Award for Lifetime Contributions to Systematic Reviews from the Campbell Collaboration, and the 2011 Ingram Olkin Award for Lifetime Contributions to Systematic Reviews from the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology. He was a fellow of the American Psychological Association, associate editor of American Psychologist, past-associate editor of Multivariate Behavioral Research, and past editor of New Directions for Evaluation.

"I am deeply honored to receive this award. AEA shaped my career more than any other professional organization, with mentors and great colleagues, and with the opportunity to learn how to serve the needs of Society," said William Shadish.