Tara Sullivan has been named PNW’s new executive director of Academic Success and Transition, a position that allows her to do the thing that she loves most: inspire and impact students in higher education.

Born in Texas and raised mostly in Paducah, Ky., Sullivan found her passion in higher education in the Chicagoland area. She received her Bachelor of Science from Indiana University in 1999. She began her career in the corporate world, where she worked as an operation strategy consultant, but felt that something was missing. She had enjoyed doing the work, but she did not like the for-profit idea of it.

“I was looking for an opportunity to affect similar change, but in a way, that was more people orientated and had more impact. Higher education was the obvious choice, because I wanted to affect the environment that had the most effect on me,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan decided to go back to school and received both a master’s degree and doctorate in higher education from the University of Michigan in 2005 and 2013, respectively. She has worked in higher education since 2000, including stops at DePaul University, Northwestern, the Art Institute of Chicago, Loyola University Chicago and now PNW.

“I am very passionate about students’ success and creating environments where students can succeed both personally and academically. This profession allows me to operate strategies, impact change and make environments more conducive to students’ success,” Sullivan said.

When the opportunity to work at PNW came about, Sullivan said she saw it as an amazing opportunity to work in the community she loves. She felt a connection with PNW, as her husband attended the Hammond campus and she saw how the university and the community became his home. It eventually became hers, too.

“[The community] impacts my day-to-day experience and the opportunity to really do this work and be focused on the academic side of the insertion work for academic success is an amazing opportunity,” Sullivan said. “I am passionate about serving it.”

Sullivan works with students who are undecided on their majors, supervises in overseeing the area of campuses that focuses on student academic support and has the responsibilities of looking between both campuses for academic advising and student’s success.

Michael Lynn, interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, said that when the search committee was looking for candidates, she won the day on her interview, where she had the right background and training to do the job.

“[Sullivan’s] vision, her willingness and ability to bring together different ideas to challenge us, question how we had been doing things and see new ways to push us forward are some ways that shows how unique she is,” Lynn said. “She brings new ideas to help us rise above and to help us rethink what is the best possible way to meet the needs of our students.”

In her six weeks on the job, Sullivan said she is happy and loves the diverse student body at PNW. She believes PNW students are driven and passionate about the world.

“We need to harness that diversity. We have the opportunity here to shape students and have them also shape each other. That can be really impactful and powerful,” Sullivan said.

Lynn said he admires Sullivan’s passion and work ethic, finding her to be an intelligent, thoughtful and energetic person.

“I admire her strength in purpose. She comes in and is given tasks to work on and she works them diligently. She is here for the students and she does her work for them,” Lynn said. “College is about bringing together students from different backgrounds and helping them all find an understanding within the community and success in their social life, college life and personal life.”

Sullivan wants PNW students to succeed and she wants to have the impact on them that she had received when she was a student.

“I am here to listen and I am here for the students. If students have ideas, perspectives, or concerns they can come to me,” Sullivan said.