Dr. Tackett is the Director of Education Services for the College of Education. In addition, she teaches online and face-to-face courses at the undergraduate level for the Department of Special Education and the School for Undergraduate Studies. Dr. Tackett also leads a Study Abroad program for Texas Global in Taipei, Taiwan. From 2013 to 2024, she was the undergraduate advisor for the Department of Special Education.

Prior to joining the Department of Special Education, Dr. Tackett was on faculty at George Mason University in the Division of Special Education and disAbility. She also was research analyst at American Institutes for Research, where she coordinated technical assistance and product development for the National Center on Response to Intervention. Dr. Tackett obtained her doctoral degree in special education (concentration in learning disabilities/behavior disorders) from The University of Texas at Austin. She taught elementary general and special education in Mississippi and California.

Here at UT, she was named a Texas Ten professor by Texas Exes, won a President's Associates Excellence in Teaching Award, and received the Elisabeth Shatto Massey Award for Excellence in Teacher Education.