As the end of spring semester approaches, University of Idaho professor Becky Tallent will prepare for her retirement in May.
“It’s going to be very hard to find someone that has the background that she has,” said Patricia Hart, an associate professor and former director in the Journalism and Mass Media (JAMM) Department. “She had a lot of experience when she came, and that’s not a quality you find anymore.”
Tallent said before coming to UI, she worked in both the journalism and public relations fields in Oklahoma.
Tallent originally started working as a journalist in the ninth grade, writing an underground newspaper named Freshman Phoenix. She continued taking journalism classes through high school and college before eventually writing for a number of publications in Oklahoma.
Tallent moved on to work in the public relations field, primarily in medical public relations, until she began her teaching career at UI.
While Tallent worked in the journalism and public relations fields, she said she always kept her eye on teaching. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees prior to her work in the field and eventually earned a doctorate degree.
“I’ve always wanted to teach,” Tallent said.
Tallent worked a part-time teaching job in Oklahoma. Once her husband retired, the pair moved to Idaho so Tallent could start a job at UI, teaching public relations full time.
“She’s been a great contributor in terms of her teaching in both conceptual and hands-on courses,” said Kenton Bird, associate professor in the JAMM Department. “She’s also been a great colleague for the past 13 years.”
According to both Bird and Hart, Tallent helped completely reconstruct the public relations degree into what it is today. Tallent has also played a large role in promoting diversity on the UI campus.
Tallent said she experienced issues with discrimination due to her Cherokee heritage both on and off campus, but said she has worked on educating the community.
“I’ve had students who have openly disregarded me. Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a woman or if I’m not quite white enough for them,” Tallent said. “I suspect it’s both. For anyone of color, racism is alive and well in the United States, unfortunately.”
In her personal life, Tallent said she uses humor to diffuse these situations, but on campus she tries to educate her students on cultural diversity in the media through a class Tallent described as one of the things she’s most proud of accomplishing at UI.
“The first year was trial and error,” Tallent said. “And then, thankfully, Kenton Bird—who was our director at the time — sent me to a training session at the Poynter Institute and I learned a lot more about diversity. I’ve been able to take it over 13 years and really transform it into something that’s interactive and fun.”
After her retirement, Tallent said she plans to spend her time traveling and doing the things she loves.
This includes beading, spending time with her cats and continuing to work on her murder mystery novel.
“I will miss her presence around the Third Floor of the Admin Building,” Bird said. “There are some days of the week where I’m the only person on the Third Floor except for Becky. It’s nice to have someone to exchange the latest news or just to check in and see what’s going on.”
Brianna Finnegan can be reached at [email protected]