Cheryl Taliaferro, Ph.D.
Director of Pre-Collegiate Programs
Cheryl Taliaferro, Ph.D., is the Director of Pre-Collegiate Programs in the Baylor Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, where she leads, develops, operates, and evaluates programs for students in grades 1 through 12. With more than 25 years of teaching and administrative experience in a variety of public and private educational settings, Dr. Taliaferro is passionate about working with students and their families as they navigate educational landscapes that were not always created with their needs in mind. She currently serves on the Board of the Gifted Education Family Network of Texas as the Vice Chair of Advocacy. Prior to joining Baylor, she helped develop and lead a public school-within-a-school for highly gifted students in grades 1-12 in the DFW area. In recognition of that work, she received the National Association for Gifted Children’s Gifted Coordinator Award in 2022 and the Sherry Hamilton Memorial Gifted Education Award in 2023. She also worked for several years as an Academic Coordinator for Duke University’s Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP), leading summer programming at sites in both Texas and North Carolina.
Dr. Taliaferro received her bachelor's degree in political philosophy from the University of Dallas, her master's degree in reading from Texas Woman’s University, and her doctorate in reading with a minor in anthropology from the University of North Texas. She is certified to teach English, social studies, gifted education, and English as a second language in Texas, Tennessee, and New Mexico, and she is actively involved with the Texas Association for the Gifted & Talented and the National Association for Gifted Children.