Fielding Graduate University Announces Orlando Taylor, PhD, as Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Research

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Aug. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Fielding Graduate University has announced the appointment of Orlando L. Taylor, PhD, as Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Research. This new position at Fielding has been established to assure that Fielding adjusts to the rapidly changing and highly competitive landscape in higher education by advancing innovation, research and new programmatic initiatives while preserving its historic mission, vision, values, and legacy.

President Katrina Rogers, PhD, recognized the expertise and experience Taylor possesses in higher education, principally at the graduate level, as an excellent fit to advance the institution's academic reputation and its extramural funding to advance research and student support.  President Rogers stated, "Dr. Taylor brings the quality leadership and vision that supports our pioneering competency based model of education, recognizes the talent of our faculty, and enhances our historic commitment to social justice."

Taylor is founding president of the Washington, DC, campus of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. He is also a senior fellow at the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Prior to these appointments, he served in several senior leadership positions at Howard University in Washington, DC.

Taylor has been a national leader for many years on issues pertaining to diversity and inclusion in higher education.  When asked about Fielding's place in higher education, he commented, "Fielding has a model that benefits all of higher education, which ultimately benefits the country. Its competency based model of doctoral education takes into account the aspirations of its students, their prior learning, and how they want to use their education to advance the public good and societal needs….Our country needs to produce persons with advanced degrees who are able to advance the priorities of the country, and at the same time, create new knowledge….Fielding is positioned to produce graduates in areas of clinical psychology, media psychology, education, and human and organizational development that can address the needs faced by diverse individuals and communities domestically and globally."

Taylor has been a particularly vigorous advocate and spokesperson on topics and issues relating to access and equity in higher education and to preparing the next generation of researchers, as well as faculty members, for the nation's colleges and universities. In addition, he has obtained significant extramural support for research, education and special initiatives to advance these topics and others in fields that impact directly upon the education, health and related needs of diverse individuals, organizations and communities. Currently, he is the principal investigator of a major grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance women in the STEM fields into leadership positions at the nation's historically black colleges and universities and at tribal colleges.

Taylor is the author of numerous publications within his discipline and in higher education, and is recognized by many as a national leader in graduate education. In addition, he is the past president of the Consortium of Social Science Association and the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools. He has served as a member of numerous national boards in higher education, including the Advisory Council for the Geosciences Directorate at NSF, the University Consortium for Atmospheric Research, and the Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools, which he chaired. Currently, Taylor is a member of the Board of Trustees of Huston-Tillotson University and a member of the Research Council of the Research Foundation for the State University of New York.

Taylor received his PhD from the University of Michigan, and has been a recipient of that university's distinguished alumni award. He received his undergraduate degree from Hampton University and a master's degree from Indiana University. He has been awarded honorary doctorate degrees from several colleges and universities, including Hope College and Purdue, Indiana, Ohio State, Depauw and Denison Universities.

Fielding Graduate University is an accredited nonprofit leader in blended graduate education, combining face‐to‐face and online learning. Our curriculum offers quality degrees and courses for professionals living and working around in the world. Fielding's faculty members represent a breadth of scholarship and practice in the fields of educational leadership, human and organizational development, and clinical and media psychology. Maintaining Fielding's reputation for quality programs, faculty members are mentors and guides to self-directed students who use their skills to become powerful, and socially-responsible leaders in their communities, workplaces, and society.

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SOURCE Fielding Graduate University

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