Professor; Division Chair of English/World Languages

TaraHart.jpg
Professor,
Division Chair, Tara Hart

Office: DH - 239
Phone: 443-518-4566
Email: thart@howardcc.edu

Dr. Hart has been a full-time faculty member at Howard Community College since 1997 and Chair of the Division of English/World Languages since 2001. At Howard Community College, she teaches creative writing and literature and is involved in a variety of campus initiatives, including the Howard County Book Connection Project and the First-Year Experience, as well as on teams devoted to developmental education, statewide college writing standards, and enrollment management. As chair, she strives to be a transformational and servant leader to a dynamic and innovative division of over thirty full-time faculty and 200 adjunct faculty and staff. She was recognized as an International Exemplary Leader by the Chair Academy for Organizational Leaders in 2006.

Dr. Hart facilitated a formal partnership between the college and the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo). HoCoPoLitSo, whose mission is to enlarge the audience for the appreciation of contemporary literature and brings nationally and internationally renowned poets and writers to our community, is now in residence at the college. She co-chairs the HoCoPoLitSo Board of Directors and is also on the Friends of the Howard County Library System Board.

As a scholar, her Master’s level work was in drama, particularly the plays of Sam Shepard and Samuel Beckett, while her doctoral dissertation focused on the ways early 20th-century American women writers, such as Gertrude Stein, used the concept of landscape in their literature. Her more recent interests in academic leadership theory and practice led to the writing of the HCC Faculty Leadership Guide: A Resource Manual for Division Chairs, Associate Chairs, Program Directors, and Course Coordinators. Currently, she is updating the HCC creative writing curriculum and writing her first book of poetry.
Dr. Hart loves teaching and working with innovative teachers. She believes that learning is what we are, what we do, what we yearn for, and what illuminates every area of our lives. She believes that good teachers help students to develop essential critical thinking skills and to develop trust in their own intellectual abilities, to awaken and nurture a love of learning that is already present in us all.

Education and Certifications:

  • Ph.D., English Language and Literature - University of Maryland, College Park
  • M.A., English Language and Literature - University of Maryland, College Park
  • B.A., English and Psychology - Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA

Courses Taught:

Awards:

  • 2011 Pushcart Prize for "Patronized," poem published in and nominated by The Little Patuxent Review, Summer 2010.
  • First Prize for Best Poem, “Plain of Gladness,” juried exhibit. Poets and Painters Collective, Lorwood Arts Center, VA, 2011. 
  • International Exemplary Leader Award, The Chair Academy: Training for Organizational Leaders, 2006.
  • Outstanding English/World Languages Division Faculty Member, Howard Community College, 2000-2001.
  • Carl Bode Prize for Best Graduate Dissertation in American Literature, University of Maryland, 1996.
  • First Prize for Oral Presentation to an Interdisciplinary Audience, University of Maryland, 1995.
  • Outstanding Teacher on Campus. University of Maryland Center for Teaching Excellence, 1993.
  • Publications
  • "Song of Two." Poem published in the Little Patuxent Review, Summer 2009.
  • "I Think Thelonious Knows How It Goes." Poem published in Welter, Spring 2009.
  • HCC Faculty Leadership Guide: A Resource Manual for Division Chairs, Associate Chairs, Program Directors, and Course Coordinators, Howard Community College Teaching and Learning Institute website, 2005-present.
  • “The Platform of Absolute Rest,” poem, Baltimore City Paper, 2001
  • “Still Points: Mary Austin’s Compositions and Explanations,” published in Exploring Lost Borders: Critical Essays on Mary Austin, University of Nevada Press, 1999. Eds. Melody Graulich and Betsy Klimasmith.

Presentations and Publications

  • Host, HoCoPoLitSo’s The Writing Life, “A Literary Gathering of Women: The Craft of Writing” and “A Literary Gathering of Women: Exploring Themes in Literature” with authors Helen Elaine Lee, Donna Hemans, and Thrity Umrigar, taped March 2009, HCC-TV.
  • "Increasing College Preparedness and Opportunity: A Multidisciplinary Team Approach," Accuplacer Conference, Seattle, WA, 2009.
  • Presenter/Trainer, topics of Servant-Leadership and diversity (DiSC Profile) to 500+ faculty, staff, and students, Howard Community College, 2005-present.
  • "Mixing Our Metaphors: Disc Jockey Teaching in the Wired Writing Classroom," Presentation at TYCA Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, 2000.
  • "The Wild, Wired West: Douglas Coupland's Microserfing Safari,” Presentation at Western Literature Association, Sacramento, Calif. 1999.
  • “Outcomes Assessment for Composition & Literature,” Consultant at Cabrillo College, CA, 1999.
  • “Serving Suspended Sentences: Austin and Stein’s Literature of Place,” Presentation at Twentieth-Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, Kentucky. 1995.