Outstanding alumni are recognized for exceptional contributions to education or other fields. Each year's honored recipient is invited to campus to speak at the College of Education June commencement ceremony.
B.A. Education, 1960; M.Ed. Counseling, 1962
Judson Taylor’s professional life as a teacher, college president, and international education consultant, has reflected his collaborative focus on improving teacher education and the school experience for children. From his start as a social studies teacher in Coos Bay, Oregon, to his role as university president and now in retirement as an international educational consultant, Judson Taylor has focused on improving the skills of teachers and collaboration between higher education and local communities.
Early in his career, he realized that diverse learners often faced difficulty in school classrooms. As a professor and later as dean of the College of Education at California State University, Dominguez Hills, he worked in the most ethnically diverse college in the country. He created a highly successful teacher education program in collaboration with the local schools. After 22 years in California, he and his wife, Elise, moved to the University of Wisconsin, where he served as the provost and vice-chancellor for academic affairs. While there, he established a teacher education program with the Ojibawa Tribal College.
In 1995, he accepted a position to serve as president of the State University of New York at Cortland, New York state's largest preparer of professional educators. There he spearheaded a program to prepare students from New York City and other urban settings return to their home districts after graduation, leading a successful effort to provide fully funded scholarships for students willing to make the commitment to return to their communities.
Though now retired, Judson Taylor continues to serve on a variety of Fulbright assignments around the world, helping improve education in Malayasia, Russia, and Azerbaijan.
Judson Taylor received his B.A. in education and his M.Ed. in counseling from the University of Oregon. He received his Ph.D. in educational psychology from Arizona State University.