Tara Pauliny is the Director of the UMass Amherst Writing Program and a Senior Lecturer. She earned her PhD in rhetoric and composition/English from the Ohio State University in 2002 and has served as a faculty member and writing program administrator at several academic institutions. She has taught courses in writing, rhetoric, gender studies, and liberal studies and has been a Writing Center Director, Director of Writing Programs, Writing Across the Curriculum Director, and Academic Director of Liberal Studies.