2022 MARIE FIELDER MEDAL FOR SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

Each year, the Fielding community comes together to recognize the efforts of an individual who makes a difference on the international stage.

On November 17, Orlando L. Taylor, PhD, was honored as the 2022 Marie Fielder Medal for Social Transformation recipient at a public livestream event.

Based in Washington, D.C., Dr. Taylor has been a national leader in graduate education, including issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, for more than 40 years. He works tirelessly to prepare the next generation of college and university researchers, faculty members, and leaders across the nation.

Currently, he serves as the Distinguished Senior Advisor to the Fielding President, and as Principal Investigator and Executive Director of the National Science Foundation-funded Center for the Advancement of STEM Leadership (CASL). Previous roles include service as university president, provost, and faculty member at other colleges and universities. He is also the Founding Director of the Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership, and Education.

Dr. Taylor is the sixth recipient of this distinguished award. He said that receiving this award, especially as the founding director of the Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership, and Education, was a full-circle moment.

“To receive an award in the name of Marie Fielder in and of itself is an honor because of the great contributions she made to the nation and disenfranchised communities during her lifetime as an educator and activist,” Dr. Taylor said. “It’s both humbling and rewarding to be recognized by my peers and colleagues at Fielding. There’s an expression about being a prophet in one’s own land. It’s very difficult, but to be awarded this medal by my colleagues and peers is quite special.”

Dr. Taylor has made an impact both at Fielding and on colleagues across the world.

“When I tell people in higher education I work for Dr. Taylor, many respond, ‘You work with a legend!’" said Nicole Moreland, PhD, CASL Director of Operations. “I have the distinct pleasure of working with Dr. Taylor, but more importantly, I’ve had the honor of calling him my mentor for over 15 years. Very few people can transform a person’s life the way Dr. Taylor can. Every day I have the pleasure of observing, firsthand, Dr. Taylor’s extraordinary vision and tremendous leadership. His pursuit of excellence and passion for people allow him to have an enduring impact on the lives of individuals and institutions. His prodigious impact is evidenced by the relationships he has cultivated around the world, all of which have been integral in connecting the Center (Center for the Advancement of STEM Leadership funded by the National Science Foundation) to 67 HBCUs.”

The Marie Fielder Medal for Social Transformation is one of the Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership, and Education’s signature initiatives. The Center and award are named after Dr. Marie Fielder, one of the most influential women in the history of California education and a founding member of Fielding’s Board of Trustees.

The Center’s work exemplifies Dr. Fielder’s principles of transformational change for social justice, equity, and education.

The annual award recognizes an individual for a lifetime of achievements devoted to efforts that support educational access and success. Each year, the Center’s Advisory Council seeks contributions toward advancing Indigenous Worldviews and ecological justice, as well as one or more of the following areas: social advocacy/ activism, research, leadership, education, and public service.

“Dr. Taylor has been a national leader for many years on issues pertaining to diversity and inclusion in higher education,” said President Katrina S. Rogers, PhD. “He is a visionary with a singular focus on broadening participation in education so that all members of society advance in their professional and personal lives. His voice remains steadfast to broaden participation in our society, and his efforts advance the dream of an inclusive America that can only be realized through higher education.”

Although he has trailblazed paths in several different directions, Dr. Taylor said he still has work to do, especially with STEM research and the quality of higher education.

“There needs to be serious attention to defining what quality is, in terms of students, faculty, curriculum, and more,” said Dr. Taylor. “In so doing, we must address those issues through the lens of a diverse society. We must really ask tough questions around those issues. We must also increase the community of scholars who contribute to the intellectual space of ‘knowing.’ In other words, we need to have more diverse perspectives on which questions to ask, how to ask them, and how to interpret data that we obtain.

“I always say that Truth spelled with a capital T is a collectivity of small-t truths that are produced by different individuals through their own lens. Any of us would be limited if we did not consider the perceptions of others, and it’s our interconnectivity of ‘knowing’ that advances knowledge and society.”

In his role at Fielding, Dr. Taylor will continue to advocate for evolving curricula and the continuation of efforts to advance faculty and students, in research and program development. This will help to advance Fielding’s reputation as a national leader in the transformation of higher education.

Dr. Taylor is the co-editor of an upcoming book from Fielding University Press, Higher Education in a Changing World, with nationally recognized individuals — including some from Fielding — contributing chapters. He is also working toward securing new funding for the Center for the Advancement of STEM Leadership (CASL).

Past recipients of the Marie Fielder Medal for Social Transformation include Dr. Walter Bumphus, President of the American Association for Community Colleges; Dr. Gary Orfield, Co-Director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA; Dr. Patricia Gurin, Nancy Cantor Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan; Dolores Huerta, American labor leader; and Professor Angela Davis, social justice activist, writer, and scholar.