(Press-News.org)
WASHINGTON, March 3, 2026—Sylvia Hurtado, Distinguished Professor in the School of Educational and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been voted president-elect of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Hurtado joins the AERA Council in 2026-2027 as president-elect, and her presidency begins at the conclusion of the association’s 2027 Annual Meeting.
Hurtado studies the transition to college, the campus racial climate, and STEM pathways and interventions. Her research centers equity for historically marginalized groups and institutional transformation and has been funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation, as well as distinguished organizations such as the Spencer Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Gates Foundation.
Hurtado served as a member-at-large on the AERA Executive Board and Council from 2019 to 2022 and served as Council liaison to the AERA Journal Publications Committee. She previously served as a member of the AERA Nominating Committee, from 2015 to 2017.
Engaged in AERA since graduate school, Hurtado has been active in Division J–Postsecondary Education, Division G–Social Content of Education, the Latina/o/x Research Issues Special Interest Group, and the Mixed Methods Research Special Interest Group. Hurtado was inducted as an AERA Fellow in 2011 and received the 2018 AERA Social Justice in Education Award and the 2015 Division J Exemplary Research Award. She delivered the 2021 AERA Distinguished Lecture, “The Inevitability of Racial Bias and Exclusion: Implications for Identity-Based Education and Practice.” She has served as co-editor for AERA's peer-review journal Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis since 2023.
Inducted into the National Academy of Education in 2019, she serves on the organization’s board of directors. She is past president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (2005) and directed two postsecondary research centers: the University of Michigan’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education and, subsequently, served for over a decade as director of UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute. The Association for Institutional Research awarded Hurtado the 2022 Sidney Suslow Award for career contributions that inform higher education decision-making. Growing up in a segregated town as a first-generation Latina college student led to roles as a certified teacher and change agent in college admissions and student support programs—and to pursuing research as a tool for empowerment.
Upon becoming AERA president in 2027, Hurtado will succeed Jerome Morris, the E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of Urban Education at the University of Missouri—St. Louis. Morris will assume the AERA presidency on April 12, 2026, at the close of the association’s 2026 annual meeting in Los Angeles, CA.
Key Members Elected to AERA Council
Along with Hurtado as president-elect, association members elected several new AERA Council representatives.
Council Members-at-Large
Two prominent scholars were elected to member-at-large positions on the AERA Council, commencing in 2026–2027. They will serve three-year terms.
Rochelle Gutierrez, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Kimberly Griffin, University of Maryland
Division Vice Presidents-Elect
Four education researchers were voted as division vice presidents-elect and will join 2027–2028 Council following the 2027 Annual Meeting. They will serve three-year terms.
Division A – Administration, Organization, and Leadership:
Sonya D. Hayes, University of Tennessee
Division C – Learning and Instruction:
Francesca López, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Division D – Measurement and Research Methodologies:
Bethany A. Bell, University of Virginia
Division I – Education in the Professions:
Toni Ungaretti, Johns Hopkins University
Graduate Student Council
Olesia Pavlenko, a doctoral student at the University of New Hampshire, was voted chair-elect of the Graduate Student Council and will join the AERA Council in 2027–2028.
Complete 2026 AERA election results will be posted on the AERA website on March 6.
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About AERA
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the largest national interdisciplinary research association devoted to the scientific study of education and learning. Founded in 1916, AERA advances knowledge about education, encourages scholarly inquiry related to education, and promotes the use of research to improve education and serve the public good. Find AERA on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.
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