Tara is an Educational Training Specialist at the Southern Illinois Professional Development Center, part of the Illinois Community College Board Adult Education Professional Development Network. She holds a B.A. in Social Studies Education from Illinois State University and an M.A. in the Arts of Teaching from Aurora University.  

Tara has 25+ years of experience in education in the areas of instruction, training, curriculum development and implementation, and mentoring. Tara began at the high school level and expanded to adult and higher education where she has served for the past 19+ years. Tara’s adult education teaching experience includes all types of classes including ICAPS (Illinois’ branding of IET), ESL, ABE, and ASE.  

In addition to her work in the classroom, she has valuable experience in training and mentoring teachers in curriculum development and delivery, teaching methods, and best practices. This work involves high-touch technical support for administrators and instructors to help design and refine Bridge and IET courses to follow state and federal guidelines and ultimately create opportunities for our students.  

Tara has also written, submitted and implemented curricula through the Illinois Community College Board and various community college settings and designed and facilitated multiple professional development opportunities for adult educators. She has presented at many local, state, and national conferences. Tara is a certified trainer of Universal Design for Learning, a credential that was earned through the Center for Applied Special Technologies (CAST) and this experience helps in facilitating the Southern Illinois Professional Development Center’s Supporting Student Success Pathway.