Current Position and Past Experience
Victor Taylor is a widely recognized humanities scholar and author of four books and six edited volumes. He serves as the Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Extended Studies at South Dakota State University (SDSU); he also was Interim Dean of SDSU’s College of Education and Human Sciences in 2023-24. He is the Executive Editor at The Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory and editor of two books series with Parlor Press—one on issues in higher ed leadership.

Prior to joining SDSU, he served in several leadership roles, from Department Head to Dean to Director of the Institute for Civic Arts and Humanities to Inaugural Director of Graduate and Professional Programs. He also has held research appointments at The Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, UC-Irvine, and UCLA.

He served as past president and board member of the Whitestone Foundation, a Denver-based non-profit focusing on humanities education.

Education, Honors and Achievements
Taylor holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Humanities from Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences and pursued post-doctoral research at Cornell University. He graduated with honors in English and Philosophy from Le Moyne College.

He has been the recipient of several NEH funded grants, including work at Yale University and the National Humanities Center in North Carolina. For his civic engagement activity, he received grants from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and other funding entities. Recently, he was awarded a Mellon Foundation grant to develop a post-carceral higher ed program at SDSU.

Personal Details and Community Involvement
Taylor and his spouse enjoy traveling, hiking and biking in South Dakota, which is generally nice and flat.