UMass Boston

Tara L. Parker is a Professor of Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research focuses on race, equity, and success in higher education, including three interrelated areas:  1) the application of critical race theory to higher education; 2) the experiences and contributions of faculty of color; and 3) the influence of public policy on developmental education.

Dr. Parker’s scholarship has been published in the Review of Higher Education, Teachers College Record, the Journal of College Student Development and the Community College Journal of Research and Practice. She has presented her work in Canada, China, Mexico, Thailand and throughout the United States. Dr. Parker is co-author of The State of Developmental Education: Higher Education and Public Policy Priorities (Palgrave MacMillan, 2014) with Leticia Bustillos and Michelle Sterk Barrett and Racism and Racial Equity in Higher Education (Jossey-Bass, 2015) with Samuel Museus and Maria Ledesma. She is also co-author of The Community’s Colleges: The Pursuit of Democracy, Economic Development, and Success (Stylus Publishing, forthcoming) with Robert Pura.

Dr. Parker was awarded Honorable Mention for the 2020 Presidential Medal by the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) for her influence as a local change agent. She currently serves on the editorial board for the Review of Higher Education and the American Educational Research Journal.  

Prior to joining the faculty at University of Massachusetts Boston, Dr. Parker earned her Ph.D. in Higher Education from New York University, her M.A. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Minnesota, and her B.A. in Communications from Marist College.