UCLA's Sylvia Hurtado Elected AERA President-Elect in 2026 Vote

Sylvia Hurtado, Distinguished Professor in the School of Educational and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been elected president-elect of the American Educational Research Association, the largest national organization devoted to the scientific study of education. Hurtado will join the AERA Council in 2026-2027 in that role, and her term as president begins at the conclusion of the association's 2027 Annual Meeting.

AERA, founded in 1916, encompasses more than 25,000 members across disciplines including education research, psychology, sociology, and policy. The organization publishes numerous peer-reviewed journals and hosts an annual meeting that serves as a central forum for education research across the United States and internationally.

A Research Focus Built Around Equity

Hurtado's scholarly work over more than three decades has concentrated on the transition to college, campus racial climate, and the pathways that bring students - particularly those from historically marginalized groups - into STEM fields. Her research blends quantitative survey methods with institutional analysis to understand how campus environments shape student outcomes and how institutions can change to become more equitable.

That work has attracted substantial external funding from the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and organizations including the Spencer Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Gates Foundation. In 2019, she was inducted into the National Academy of Education.

Hurtado's path to this position is notably grounded in personal experience. Growing up in a segregated town as a first-generation Latina college student, she worked as a certified teacher and in college admissions and student support before pursuing research as a vehicle for systemic change. That trajectory informs a scholarly identity in which data collection and policy advocacy are deliberately connected.

She delivered the 2021 AERA Distinguished Lecture - titled "The Inevitability of Racial Bias and Exclusion: Implications for Identity-Based Education and Practice" - and received the 2018 AERA Social Justice in Education Award. She has served as co-editor of AERA's peer-reviewed journal Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis since 2023, previously directing two major postsecondary research centers: the University of Michigan's Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education and UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute.

Other 2026 Election Results

The AERA membership also elected several other leaders in the 2026 vote. Two scholars were elected to member-at-large positions on the AERA Council for three-year terms beginning in 2026-2027: Rochelle Gutierrez of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Kimberly Griffin of the University of Maryland.

Four division vice presidents-elect were also selected, each set to join the 2027-2028 Council following the 2027 Annual Meeting. They are Sonya D. Hayes of the University of Tennessee (Division A - Administration, Organization, and Leadership), Francesca Lopez of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Division C - Learning and Instruction), Bethany A. Bell of the University of Virginia (Division D - Measurement and Research Methodologies), and Toni Ungaretti of Johns Hopkins University (Division I - Education in the Professions).

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.

Hurtado will succeed Jerome Morris, the E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of Urban Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, who assumes the AERA presidency on April 12, 2026, at the close of the annual meeting in Los Angeles.