Tara Hollies earned her PhD in African History from Michigan State University, where her dissertation received distinction. She also earned her BA in both English and African Cultures & Colonialism from St. Olaf College, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Tara is an experienced writing tutor, having worked at her school’s writing center during graduate school. After winning a Fulbright and other grants to support her historical research and writing, Tara led multiple grant-writing workshops for students seeking research funding. Tara has also taught several undergraduate and graduate courses in the social sciences and humanities. In each class, she has walked her students through each step of writing strong critical analyses and research papers. Originally from West Michigan, Tara now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She played ice hockey and ran track from elementary school through college. In fact, one of Tara’s publications is a short non-fiction piece about preparing for her first college hockey game (in which she scored her first goal!). The piece was featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Hooked on Hockey edition.
Tara’s own college essay was about her love of and commitment to playing hockey – she travelled all over the Midwest and Canada for games and tournaments throughout middle school and high school. After all, hockey was the main reason she chose to attend college in the great State of Hockey (Minnesota).
