Dr. Pamela J. Tate

It@Sinclair is proud to present Dr. Pamela J. Tate , our new External Evaluator. Dr. Tate is taking over for Dr. Jim Masi, who was forced to resign due to health concerns.

Pamela J. Tate has been President of The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), a national, non-profit educational organization committed to expanding lifelong opportunities for adults and advancing experiential learning and its assessment since 1990. As President of CAEL, she has led the organization's growth and involvement in public policy, innovative workforce education services for employers and adult learners, and systemic change efforts within higher education.

Tate is nationally recognized for her work in facilitating workforce education and training programs among educational institutions, business, labor and government and for her efforts in assisting colleges and universities to develop systems of prior learning assessment and quality assurance in adult learning programs.

Among her other professional activities, Tate serves or has served on the Board of the National Center on Adult Learning (NCAL); the Board of the Institute for Research on Adults in Higher Education (IRAHE); the Regents College Board of Overseers; the Board of the American Council on Education's (ACE) External Diploma Program; the Jobs for the Future (JFF) National Advisory Group for the Youth Apprenticeship Initiative; the Board of the George Meany Center for Labor Studies; the National Workforce Assistance Collaborative's Technical Training Council; the National Institute for Literacy's (NIFL) "Equipped for the Future" Advisory Group; the Adult Literacy Media Alliance's (ALMA) Advisory Board; and the Modernization Forum's Skills Commission; the Advisory Board of the National Association of Manufacturers; Center for Workforce Success; the Visiting Panel for the Northeast Center for Telecommunications Technologies; the Advisory Board of the University of Massachusetts - Amherst Master's Degree in Labor Studies; and the North Central Association's Task Force on Adult Degree Programs and Prior Learning Assessment.

From 1994-97 she served on the Executive Committee which guided the creation of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation-funded Commission for a Nation of Lifelong Learners. The Commission's work culminated in November, 1997 with a major report, A Nation Learning: Vision for the 21st Century, identifying the barriers to lifelong learning for adults and recommending solutions.

Tate has delivered numerous presentations on workforce education and public policy, including speeches at the University of Surrey in England, the national conference of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the Indiana Governor's Summit on Workforce Development, the annual conference of the National University Continuing Education Association (NUCEA), the annual conference for the Association for Continuing Higher Education (ACHE), the Higher Education and Workforce Development Conference in Saratoga Springs, New York, the annual convention of the American Association of Community Colleges, the Presidents Institute of the Council of Independent Colleges, and presentations of several National Technological University and College Board/PBS teleconferences.

Prior to joining CAEL in 1987, Tate served as lead consultant to the UAW-Ford National Development and Training Center in the design and implementation of the College and University Options Program (CUOP) for Ford's unionized workforce. She had a primary role in leading CAEL to implement the CUOP program in eight cities in the Midwest.

Tate was born in Davenport, Iowa, and grew up in East Moline, Illinois. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Champaign with masters degrees in both English and journalism. She completed her doctoral course work at the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania.

In 1996, Pam Tate was acknowledged for a career devoted to expanding lifelong educational opportunities for adults with the Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa, conferred by SUNY Empire State college, Saratoga Springs, New York.