Hal R. Arkes joined The Buckeye Institute board in 2023.

An emeritus professor of psychology at The Ohio State University, Arkes received his B.A. from Carleton College in 1967 and his Ph.D. in psychology in 1971 from the University of Michigan. He has served as the chair or acting chair four times for three different departments at two Ohio universities. 

From 1993-1995 and again from 1998-2000, Dr. Arkes served as a program director at the National Science Foundation, and from 1996-1997 was the president of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making. He has also served on the Ohio Advisory Board to the United States Civil Rights Commission, made presentations to or served in various capacities with the U.S. Departments of State, Education, and Commerce, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute of Health, Central Intelligence Agency, National Science Foundation, and others. 

His research interests are in judgment and decision-making, principally medical, legal, and economic decision-making. There are nearly 20,000 citations to Dr. Arkes’s research, with a few of his papers garnering award recognition. In addition to winning several awards for his teaching, Dr. Arkes has served on the editorial board of every major journal in his field of psychology, and he has team-taught in the Department of Economics and at the Moritz School of Law at Ohio State. 

Dr. Arkes is currently a member of the Forensic Science Standards Board, whose members evaluate standards proposed for the application of forensic science in the U.S. justice system. His most prolific contribution is serving thousands of meals as a cook in the U.S. Army.