February  2021

AERA President Shaun Harper has announced prominent scholars Cynthia B. Dillard and Sylvia Hurtado as major speakers at the 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting. The meeting—scheduled for April 8–12—is the largest annual gathering of scholars in the education research field and is a showcase for groundbreaking, innovative work in a diverse array of subject areas. This year’s virtual event will be a dynamic experience designed with the attendee very much in mind.

Hurtado, an AERA Fellow and a professor at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), will give the AERA Distinguished Lecture on Friday April 9, from 12:20 p.m. to 1:20 p.m. EDT. She is a preeminent scholar on racial campus climate, the experiences of underrepresented identity groups in college, and diversity in higher education. Hurtado served as director of the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute for more than a decade. Earlier, she served as director of the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan.

Dillard will deliver the Wallace Foundation Distinguished Lecture on Sunday, April 11, from 12:20 p.m. to 1:20 p.m. EDT. She is a national leader in the study of critical teacher education, spirituality in education, and African/African-American feminist studies. Dillard is the Mary Frances Early Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Georgia. She was the 2012 recipient of the AERA Distinguished Contributions to Gender Equity in Education Research Award. Two of her books have received the Critics’ Choice Award from the American Educational Studies Association.

Both lectures will be chaired by Harper.

Stay tuned for additional information on noteworthy sessions as the AERA 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting program approaches. The meeting’s theme is “Accepting Educational Responsibility.”

Click here to register for the Annual Meeting. The registration fee is substantially lower if you are a 2021 AERA member. Be sure to obtain or renew your AERA membership before registering for the meeting to receive the registration discount.