Jason L. Taylor is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Utah. He 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. Dr. Taylor 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 has several current and recent research projects and grants. He is currently collaborating with the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) in Washington D.C. and leading the research agenda for the new Degrees When Due initiative that seeks to support current and former students with "some college, no degree." He is also currently examining college affordability and free college policies, including a partnership with Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) to study the SLCC Promise program. Between 2013 and 2017, he was the Co-PI on the research agenda for the Credit When It’s Due initiative, a 15-state effort to develop and implement reverse transfer programs and policies. Dr. Taylor has authored many research and evaluation reports, has published in journals such as American Behavioral Scientist, Community College Review, the Community College Journal of Research and Practice, The Review of Higher Education, Education Policy Analysis Archives, and a co-edited volume of New Directions for Community Colleges on dual enrollment. In 2016, he was awarded the Barbara K. Townsend Emerging Scholars award from the Council for the Study of Community Colleges, an affiliate council of the American Association of Community Colleges.

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 graduate school, Dr. Taylor was an academic advisor at Illinois State University where he advised new freshmen and transfer students. He was also the Registrar at Chaparral College in Tucson, Arizona. As a graduate student, he interned in the Institutional Research offices at Parkland College and the College of Lake County, both in Illinois. He also participated in a research internship at Lancaster University in the UK, and was selected as a research intern for the Higher Learning Commission.