The Partnership for Worker Education (PWE) is pleased to welcome new staff member Midori Tabery as the new outreach coordinator and workplace English instructor.

Tabery has over two decades of experience teaching ESL in a variety of settings including 20 years as the ESOL Department Head at Eaglebrook School and as a volunteer at the Center for New Americans. A UMass alumna, Tabery has a grounding in the studio arts and brings this creative approach to her planning and teaching.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have Midori joining our team,” says Joe Connolly, PWE director. “She brings a wealth of experience to PWE.”

Tabery will coordinate the PWE campus brochure - a selection of over 100 educational offerings for UMass staff – as well as the Workplace English program for campus staff.

Tabery highlights the importance of relationship building within the classroom by centering life experience, “It’s about getting to know who your learners are. It’s really important connecting to their life. To write about it. To talk about it.”

Tabery has a BFA in studio arts and painting from UMass Amherst, an art teacher certification from the Mass College of Art, and a master’s degree in education and teaching from Elms College. She also received a Fulbright Hayes Teacher Award to study in Japan. Most recently, she has been teaching art, coordinating the international student program and serving as the ESOL Department Head at Eaglebrook School. Midori is also active in the community as a volunteer at the Center for New Americans, the Deerfield Public Library and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.

The Partnership for Worker Education, Office of Human Resources, is an active educational partnership between the UMass staff unions on campus and HR. This office provides education, training and dynamic career ladder programming on campus and across the Commonwealth.

Learn more and sign up for fall classes at https://www.umass.edu/worker-ed/.

For more information about the PWE course brochure or our workplace English program, contact Tabery at mtabery@umass.edu or by phone at 413-545-1471.