Jason L. Taylor, Ph. D.
Bio
Jason L. Taylor is the Director of the Collaborative for Higher Education Research and Policy (CHERP) and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Utah. He also serves as the Director of the Office of Transfer Student Success in the Office of Undergraduate Studies where he provides leadership for transfer student programs and strategies on campus. Dr. Taylor received his Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a research specialization in evaluation methods and concentration in public policy. His broad research interests are at the intersection of community college and higher education policy, and educational and social inequality. He has conducted and led several quantitative and mixed methods studies related to college readiness, developmental education, college affordability, adult pathways to college, dual credit/enrollment and early college experiences, transfer policy and reverse transfer, LGBTQ students, career and technical education, and educational access and equity. The goal of his research is to examine and better understand how public policies impact underserved students’ access to, transition through, and success in community colleges and institutions of higher education to contribute to both theory and practice.
Dr. Taylor's research is informed by his experiences as a first-generation college graduate and his professional experience working in institutional and policy contexts. Prior to academia, Dr. Taylor was an academic advisor at Illinois State University where he advised new freshmen and transfer students, and he was the Registrar at Chaparral College in Tucson, Arizona.