Rita Tallent Picken came to Kenosha in 1948 when her husband, Bernard Tallent, was appointed Dean of the UW- Kenosha Extension Center, and she shared in her husband's efforts to obtain a four-year campus in Kenosha. An alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mrs. Tallent taught English in the UW Center System in Wausau and Kenosha. After her husband's death in 1965, Mrs. Tallent studied at California State College of Los Angeles receiving a Master's degree in Guidance and Counseling. In 1968 she returned to Parkside as Director of School and Campus Relations and subsequently held a variety of posts in the administration. In 1971, she was appointed Special Assistant to the Chancellor and Coordinator of Community Services at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. In that capacity, Mrs. Tallent served as anagent of the Chancellor on special community related projects and activities and at various meetings both on and off campus. In 1972, she was appointed to serve on the UW system-wide Committee on Affirmative Action for Women and worked closely with the Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Affirmative Action at Parkside in developing and implementing an affirmative action policy. She was also a member of the Educational Assistance Committee of the larger Racine Environmental Committee Inc. and supervised the academic activities of students enrolled at Parkside through the program.
As a member of St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing, Mrs. Tallent functioned as Parkside's coordinator for student nurses. Lastly, Mrs. Tallent was the university's major program advisor, coordinating several workshops and special events annually, which ranged from conferences on women's issues to community ethnic fairs. Mrs. Tallent, as Special Assistant to the Chancellor, handled a variety of tasks. She resigned in 1977 and was cited at the Commencement Exercises of that year for her twenty-nine years of service to higher education in Southeastern Wisconsin.
