Tara Gray serves as associate provost for faculty development and as the founding director of the Teaching Academy at New Mexico State University (NMSU). The Teaching Academy provides professional development aimed at helping educators live extraordinary teaching lives embedded in exceptional careers.
Tara was educated at the United States Naval Academy, Southwestern College in Kansas and Oklahoma State University, where she earned her Ph.D. in economics by asking, “Do prisons pay?” She taught economics at Denison University before
joining the Department of Criminal Justice at NMSU, which is her tenure home. Tara has published 50 scholarly works, including four books. Her books include Publish & Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar. She has been honored at New Mexico State and nationally with ten awards for teaching, scholarship or service.
Tara has presented faculty development workshops to 10,000 participants at more than 120 venues, in 36 states, and in eight countries. Workshop participants report that Dr. Gray is “spirited, entertaining, and informative—she’s anything but gray!”