Tabbye M. Chavous is executive director of the American Educational Research Association, beginning her position in August 2025. A nationally recognized scholar and seasoned leader, Chavous brings over 25 years of experience and significant accomplishments in research, teaching, and organizational advancement. Across her career, she has consistently advocated for high-quality, inclusive research, and her equity-oriented leadership is evident in her approaches to building and transforming educational environments.

Chavous joined AERA from the University of Michigan, where she was a professor of education and psychology and served as vice provost for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer. An experienced administrative leader, Chavous held numerous positions at the University of Michigan at the central administration-, college-, and department-levels. These included associate vice president for research in the university’s Office of the Vice President for Research; director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity; associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; associate dean for academic programs and initiatives in the Rackham Graduate School; and chair of the Combined Program in Education and Psychology.

Chavous holds a PhD in community psychology from the University of Virginia, and she has dedicated her career to educational equity, advancing strengths-based frameworks for studying the experiences of marginalized communities and working with educational systems to draw on this knowledge in ways that serve all students. Her research focuses on several key areas: (1) social and academic identity development among Black adolescents and young adults; (2) achievement motivation processes among ethnically and racially minoritized students; and (3) the measurement of educational climates in secondary and higher education settings and implications for students’ academic, social, and psychological adjustment.

Chavous’ scholarship underscores both foundational research and its practical applications, through integrity-grounded collaborations with schools and school systems; youth, families, and communities; as well as organizations at local, state, and national levels. Her work has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation, among others.