Headshot of Zach Taylor

Z.W. Taylor

Assistant Professor

Education

  • PhD, Higher Education Leadership, The University of Texas at Austin 
  • MS, Educational Leadership, Indiana University, Bloomington 
  • MA, English Education, Bowling Green State University 
  • BA, English Education, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay 

Background

Dr. Z.W. (Zach) Taylor is an Assistant Professor at the College of Charleston whose work focuses on higher education policy, enrollment management, student success, financial aid, institutional effectiveness, and educational equity. He brings more than 20 years of experience in education and youth development, including 15 years of postsecondary teaching, research, administration, and student support leadership across diverse educational settings. 

Dr. Taylor began his career in youth development through recreational sports officiating (basketball, baseball, and soccer) and organizations such as the YMCA and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America teaching sports skills and guitar. After undergraduate studies, Dr. Taylor transitioned to working exclusively in Title I K-12 schools, where he taught English and Special Education and served as a pre-college counselor. Throughout his career, his work has centered on expanding educational opportunity, improving student outcomes, and supporting historically underserved students and communities. While working in K-12 education, Dr. Taylor was deeply involved in service to the Midwest Hmong community, volunteering at cultural festivals, tournaments, and community fundraisers, as well as partnering with Hmong families to ensure college access information was translated into Hmong. 

He earned his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy (Higher Education Leadership concentration) from The University of Texas at Austin. As a scholar-practitioner, Dr. Taylor has authored more than 190 peer-reviewed journal articles and scholarly publications, delivered more than 500 conference presentations at regional, national, and international conferences, and secured more than $1 million in sponsored research and grant funding. His scholarship has been cited more than 1,800 times and has informed policy discussions and initiatives at state and federal levels, including work referenced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and multiple state higher education agencies. In recognition of his contributions to the field, he received the 2025 Distinguished Researcher Award from the College of Education and Human Sciences from the University of Southern Mississippi and the 2025 Golden Quill (Researcher of the Year Award) from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA). You can find his research here: Google Scholar 

An experienced educator and mentor, Dr. Taylor has taught extensively at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels. His teaching portfolio includes first-year experience, program evaluation, educational statistics, mixed methods, survey research, service learning, and dissertation supervision. Across his scholarship, teaching, and professional practice, he is committed to bridging research, policy, and practice to advance evidence-based decision-making and improve educational outcomes for students, institutions, and communities, especially non-native English speakers, first generation college students, foster youth, homeless youth, and students from low-income backgrounds. 

Courses Taught

EDDL 912: Quantitative Research Methods 

EDDL 936: Contemporary Systems and Change 

EDDL 920: Grant Writing 

EDDL 934: Program Evaluation 

Recent Publications

Taylor, Z.W. (2026). A Mixed Methods Measurement of Human-Computer Interaction With Artificial Intelligence Chatbots: Applications for Financial Counseling in Education. SAGE Research Methods: Doing Research Online. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781036243869  

Taylor, M.Y., Taylor, Z.W., & Childs, J. (2026). Personal identity, public intellect: How faculty members’ identities influence and inspire public scholarship. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 39(1), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2025.2539379   

Taylor, Z.W., & Pauter, S. (2026). Caught in the SAP: An Argument for Satisfactory Academic Progress Reform Toward Equity for College Students. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 55(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.55504/0884-9153.1867  

Taylor, Z.W., Navarrete, J., Fousek, B., & Childs, J. (2026). Different Sports, Same Playbook:  High School Student-Athlete Perceptions of Single- Versus Multi-Sport Coaches. Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/19357397.2026.2668994  

Taylor, Z.W. & Stan, K. (2026). Exploring Community College Faculty Inequities Between Minority-Serving and Predominantly-White Institutions. Community College Journal of Research and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2026.2665136  

Ward, K., Saleh, H., Taylor, Z.W., & McRaney, K. (2026). Examining the Readability of Cochlear Implant Education Materials. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Perspectives, 1-9. https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2026_PERSP-25-00194  

Taylor, Z.W., Kayser, T., Kaus, J., Ray, S., Villa, M., Weber Wandel, K., & Schuman, P. (2026). “We just can’t make the same kind of connection”: Reflections of College Peer Financial Counselors on Online Versus In-Person Financial Counseling. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning (Online First). https://doi.org/10.1891/JFCP-2025-0057   

Taylor, Z.W., Ray, S., Kaus, J., Kayser, T., Villa, M., & Schuman, P. (2026). “You're not thrown to the wolves”: How College Peer Financial Mentors are Trained and Professionally Developed. Journal of College Student Development, 67(2), 184-201. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/csd.2026.a986509  

Taylor, Z.W., Carter, D., Rainey, E., Ziegler, P., Maldonado, A., George, D., & Weber-Wandel, K. (2026). “Nightmares” and “Horror Stories”: Lived Experiences of Higher Education Staff Navigating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 34, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.34.9346  

Taylor, Z.W. (2026). Simplifying the College Admissions Process: A Practitioner-Engaged Intervention to Simplify College Admissions Information. Strategic Enrollment Management Quarterly, 13(4), 27-39. https://www.proquest.com/openview/5c8e4993cc3c6a88e4ac4d870719b39e  

Taylor, Z.W., Wheeler, P.E., & Eguiluz, L. (2026). Artificial intelligence and access to financial aid for minority college students: Evaluating chatbots and Spanish-language financial aid information. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2026.2640142   

Honors and Awards

  • 2025, Distinguished Researcher Award, College of Education and Human Sciences, The University of Southern Mississippi 
  • 2024, ACUE Distinguished Educator, The University of Southern Mississippi 
  • 2024, Hampton S. Williams Educational Research and Administration Foundation Award, The University of Southern Mississippi, School of Education 
  • 2022, Dr. V. Ray Cardozier Alumni Excellence Award, The University of Texas at Austin, Program in Higher Education Leadership 

Service to Academia

  • Editor, Briefs, Community College Journal of Research and Practice (2023-present) 
  • Senior Editor, Journal of Praxis in Higher Education (2021-present) 
  • Editorial Board Member, Literature Reviews in Education and Human Services (2025-present) 
  • Editorial Board Member, Critical Questions in Education (2023-present) 
  • Review Board Member, Journal of Applied Research in the Community College (2022-present) 
  • Editorial Board Member, Journal of Personal Finance (2022-present)