Tara K Cunningham, Edd, Ms Email & Phone Number

Hanover, New Hampshire, United States

Tara provides leadership, direction, and administrative oversight for the inaugural Office of Student Life, which supports students across degree programs at the Geisel School of Medicine in reaching their fullest potential. She oversees the development and implementation of programs and services that support the academic, personal, and professional success of students, and leads and manages the student services and student life functions for Geisel’s portfolio of degree granting educational programs. She and her team lead the student well-being and counseling, career advising and career services, co-curricular activity development and coordination, school-wide events, academic success/learning support and accessibility services, and support of student government.

New York, New York

Tara joined ISMMS to lead the student support services and initiatives in wellness, academic progression and success, personal and professional development, and career and residency planning. Her work focused on the individualized and holistic support for nearly 600 MD and MD/PhD students at one of the nations leading medical schools in New York City with the largest Graduate Medical Education system. Leading a team of 20 physicians and social workers, associate dean for student wellness, directors for academic resources, student affairs and engagement, and career planning, and additional staff, Tara was motivated for innovation, creativity and approached challenges with resolve.

Ft. Worth, Texas

Tara led award-winning pathway and enrollment functions for the developing medical school. Under her guidance, this included K-12 and college programs, the selection and retention of a diverse medical student body, financial aid and scholarship, student registration and records. She worked closely with colleagues to create an infrastructure of inclusivity and programmatic equity to promote student success.

Phoenix, Az

Tara was promoted to associate dean after having served as assistant dean since 2013. “Tara has been a critical piece in the evolution of our medical school,” said Stuart D. Flynn, MD, dean of the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix. “She has been part of the leadership team since we opened nine years ago and has been essential in our quest for accreditation. We have seen the interest in our college blossom over the last few years as Tara represents our College on local and national committees.”Under Tara's leadership, the continuation of a holistic admissions platform was strengthened with the redesign of the admissions committee. The committee was broadened to include members from the greater community, students and faculty who served to select the next class of future physicians. The applications to the College of Medicine - Phoenix have increased more than 15% each year, large in part to Tara's vision for outreach and recruitment at a national and regional level. Under her guidance, her team also led educational outreach and created the Scrubs Academy, a longitudinal and comprehensive high school pathway program for underserved and under resourced Arizona students. This program reached students from the state's rural and Native American communities, as well as the immediate perimeter of downtown Phoenix. Since beginning in 2013, Scrubs Academy now inspires more than 300 high school students annually to persist into college and remain focused on a career in medicine. Tara successfully transitioned the financial aid services to the Office of Student Affairs with the hiring and training of a newly created position - Director, Financial Aid.

Phoenix, Az

Tara was appointed by the Dean to co-direct the inaugural Office of Diversity and Inclusion based on her expertise in student recruitment and programming. She was asked to provide meaningful contributions to deepening the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix commitment to diversity on its campus and with the people and communities that surround it. The College's strategic plan places diversity efforts in a prominent position by emphasizing the need for future physicians who are capable of being successful citizens in an increasingly multicultural society. The culture wherein our faculty, students and staff reside is grounded in inclusivity, civility and accountability. In the past year, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion created and launched the inaugural Campus Diversity Engagement Survey and from the results, a a monthly lecture series has been created to address the needs identified (i.e. Supporting the LGBTQ community, Microaggressions, Unconscious Bias). Additional work includes the creation of Diversity Healthcare Week, MedSafeZone training and education sessions, the mentoring of Inclusion Liaisons, a team of diversity and inclusion advocates comprised staff, student and faculty that crosses multiple disciplines at the Phoenix Biomedical Campus. The strategic plan that guides the work of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion was created as the capstone project during the Association of American Medical Colleges Healthcare Executive Diversity and Inclusion Certificate program, a 6-month learning community with intensive week-long sessions in Washington, D.C., including two days at the National Institutes for Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.

Phoenix, Az

Tara was promoted to assistant dean and assistant professor in 2013 after having served as executive director since 2010. During her tenure as assistant dean, Tara was instrumental in the successful completion of the accreditation process that permitted the College of Medicine - Phoenix to become separately accredited from the long-standing sister school, College of Medicine - Tucson. Beginning her role as assistant dean, Tara and her team launched the web-based application software system that now provides a comprehensive application experience from application to acceptance, in addition to the committee review of big data. In addition to her oversight of the outreach and admissions team, she also oversaw the office of financial aid staff and services. It was during this time that the College began offering the Financial Aid Literacy Program and was successfully identified as a Certified Program for Veterans Affairs funding.

Phoenix, Az

Tara was promoted to executive director after having served as director since the new medical school started in 2006. During the time as executive director, Tara led the College through the transition from a single-application system that was shared between two geographically separate schools to a dual-application system that required constant communication and transparency with the other school. It was also under Tara's executive direction that the innovative Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI) was adopted, putting the College of Medicine - Phoenix on the list of early US medical school adopters. Since adoption, Tara has hosted numerous colleagues from other medical schools to witness and model a similar structure including, COM-Tucson, Michigan State University, University of Mississippi, University of Colorado, University of Michigan, University of Utah.

Phoenix, Az

Tara was hired to lead the new medical school's combined office of admissions and student affairs, and hired, trained and supervised the staff and administrative processes for student records, financial aid, residency application/match, student events and services, and student government and other clubs and organizations. After the successful recruitment of the inaugural regional campus medical school class, her role grew as the student retention needs expanded. The office was sustained until the reorganization of services and staff into two separate units, at which time Tara assisted in the national search for a student affairs dean and transitioned out of student records, student services, student government and organizations.

Kansas City, Missouri

Tara was hired to support the dean for enrollment management as the sole coordinator for the degree-completion program, known as the 2+2 Partnership for Learning and Networking (PLAN). In addition to her administrative role of identifying new community college partners, she served as an academic and enrollment advisor to more than 200 adult learners and/or associate degree-earning students throughout the greater Kansas City metropolitan area.

Doctor Of Education (Ed.D.), Higher Education/Higher Education Administration

Master’S Degree, Administration - Leadership

Bachelor’S Degree, Political Science

Activities and Societies: Student Government, Debate, Forensics, Mock Trial.