Rate My Professor Sara Harris

Sara Harris-Talley is the Business Administrator III in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University of Science and Technology. She holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of Iowa, awarded in August 1991, and an M.B.A. in Marketing from Iowa State University, completed in December 1998 with a specialization in marketing. Since July 2020, in her current position, she manages the financial, business, and operational aspects of the department's daily operations. She administers faculty committees such as Search, Honors & Awards, Student Professional Development, and Seminar, while overseeing staff and faculty development, facilities management, and space utilization. From April 2007 to July 2020, she served as Administrative Specialist 2, handling the main office operations, providing executive support and strategic analysis to the department chair, acting as the HR liaison, managing post-doc hiring, visitor requests, and visa processes, and supervising department staff and student workers.

Prior to her extensive tenure at Iowa State, Sara Harris-Talley worked as Program Manager for Central Iowa at Kaplan Test Prep from April 2000 to April 2007, managing profit and loss, hiring and training part-time instructors, and marketing preparation classes for college, graduate, professional school, and licensing exams for medical and nursing students. From October 1992 to April 2000, she served as Unit Secretary for the Zoonotic Diseases research unit at USDA/ARS/NADC-Ames, providing administrative support to the research leader and unit scientists and staff. Her professional skills include project management, strategic planning, executive administrative support, human resources, bookkeeping, parliamentary procedures, and public speaking. She has received the 2013 and 2009 ECpE Mervin S. Coover Distinguished Service Awards, the 2008 P&S Outstanding New Professional Award, and the 2010 Professional and Scientific Outstanding New Professional Award ($1,500), recognizing her contributions to streamlining operations, promoting student professional development, and fostering a collegial atmosphere. She serves as a councilor on the Professional & Scientific Council for Academic Affairs - College of Engineering and its Awards Committee. She holds leadership roles in Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. as Treasurer for the State of Iowa (2022-present) and Nu Mu Zeta Alumni Chapter (2020-present), Secretary for Sigma Epsilon Zeta Alumni Chapter (2018-19), and was Board Member/Secretary (2014-15) for CUPA-HR Iowa Chapter (2014-2016).