Sylvia Hurtado is a Professor of Education in the School of Education and Information Studies, and directed the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA for over a decade. Prior to that, she was Director of the Center for Higher Education and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan. She has written extensively on student development and college experiences, campus racial climate, STEM education, and diversity in higher education. In addition to many publications in these areas, she is co-editor of books that won International Latino Book Awards: “Hispanic Serving institutions: Advancing Research and Transformative Practice” (Routledge Press), and “The Magic Key: The Educational Journey of Mexican Americans from K-12 to College and Beyond (University of Texas Press).
Dr. Hurtado was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2019; received the 2018 Social Justice in Education Award from the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Additionally, she is past President of AERA, and received the AERA Distinguished Lecture in 2021. She now engages in collaborative work with UCLA’s Center for Evaluation and Coordination, conducts research on the organizational impact of culturally aware mentor training for graduate program faculty in the biomedical sciences, and directs a Howard Hughes Medical Institute project on how student-centered interventions at universities result in diversity and inclusion in science. Additionally, she serves as a Special Assistant to the UCLA Chancellor in the area of Latinx Issues. Her early engagement as a first generation college student led to roles in college admissions, graduate admissions and student support, and her developing interest in higher education as a field of study.