Tamara Edmonds Askew, JD, MPH
Director, ABA Section, State and Local Government Law
Co-Chair of the African American Advisory Council
About
Tamara Edmonds Askew is the Director of the ABA Section of State and Local Government Law, advising 8,000 attorney and law student members in municipal law, education, policy, publication efforts and specialized committees in: diversity law; emergency management/homeland security; environmental law; ethics; governmental operations and liability; election law and voting rights; land use planning and zoning; judicial, public education; public finance; Tribal Law; and State Attorneys General and Department of Justice Issues. Previously, she served as Programs and Projects Manager, ABA Commission on Women In the Profession; Associate, Chicago Transit Authority, Corporate Law Department; Visiting Project Coordinator, UIC Center for Research on Women and Gender; Graduate Assistant, UIC Great Lakes Center for Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health; and Health Physicist, Emergency Preparedness and State Programs, Commonwealth Edison Company. She earned a Juris Doctorate from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology; Master of Public Health from University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health; and Bachelor of Science, Industrial Hygiene and Health Physics, Purdue University.
She has also served as a leader in community organizations including: Interfaith Organizing Project of Greater Chicago; First Baptist Congregational Church, Education Scholarship Ministry; Drummond Montessori, Local School Council; Better Government Association, and Cornerstone Counseling Center of Chicago.