EPSY Alum Recognized with AERA Outstanding Dissertation Award
by communications@education.illinois.edu (Communications Office) / Mar 3, 2026
Taiylor Rayford, EPSY Ph.D. ’25, was named the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division E Outstanding Dissertation Awardee in Human Development.
The reviewers for the award nomination noted that they found her work “to be of critical importance to the field, and of great importance to our division.”
Her dissertation was entitled Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst: A Framework for Understanding Belonging Fulfillment Among Black Graduate Students. She examined factors surrounding the attrition of Black graduate students and how a lack of a sense of belonging can explain it.
She will be honored at the AERA Annual Meeting, April 8-12, in Los Angeles, CA.