Provost who leads by example finishes 'freshman' year

Increased collaboration between Tufts' eight schools, more research opportunities for undergraduates, improving the undergraduate experience, and recruiting the best students and faculty are just a few of the ambitious goals that the University's new Provost Jamshed Bharucha plans on working towards during his tenure.

Bharucha feels that Tufts' "exciting trajectory" and "upward potential" will allow him, along with President Larry Bacow, to "take the University to a new level of excellence."

Creating stronger ties between the eight schools that comprise Tufts and making all students feel as though they are part of one University is a key goal, Bharucha said. Only three of Tufts' schools - Arts, Sciences & Engineering, Fletcher and Nutrition - are located on the Medford Campus.

"We want all students and faculty to have a stronger sense of being part of a broader university, beyond their own department or their own school," he said.

Opportunities for undergraduate research are one way to connect the University's schools together, Bharucha said, and he has spent much of this year working with the Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience to implement the Summer Scholars Program.

The program will provide 30 students with a stipend so they can spend the summer working with a faculty member on active research. Students will work either with the undergraduate faculty, the graduate faculty from six of the other Tufts graduate schools, or at the Tufts- affiliated hospitals and clinics.

Along with the Summer Scholars program, the Task Force has recommended establishing a web-based clearinghouse so that faculty members can announce when they require research assistants.

Such research opportunities, Bharucha said, "bring students and faculty together who wouldn't otherwise meet." They also encourage the students to use their research for a senior honors thesis or a culminating research project, fostering an environment in which independent research is encouraged.

Bharucha's own background may be part of what helps him understand the value of undergraduate research. He spent several years as a Professor and Deputy Provost at Dartmouth College - a teaching college where many professors conduct research.

Large research universities have been known to keep their undergraduates at bay, while small colleges that focus on their undergraduates often don't challenge students with research projects, Bharucha said. "Tufts has typically paid close attention to the undergraduates. [We have] the best of both worlds, and we really wanted to build on that," he said.

"I don't find just a liberal arts college or a large research university satisfying. I like that combination because I love to teach and I love to do research, and I've never seen those as being diametrically opposed," Bharucha said.

Bharucha earned a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Harvard and continued with his own research this year, which focuses on the cognitive and neural basis of the perception of music.

His academic background will help him fulfill the other duties that make up the provost's job, the most important of which is to act as chief academic officer for all eight Tufts schools.

"He has to be accepted academically by the community," said former Provost Sol Gittleman. "You need academic credibility so that everybody at all of those schools accepts you."

Because many of the Tufts schools focus on the life sciences, Bharucha feels that his background in neuroscience will enable him to provide "leadership in a way that's credible."

Bharucha's goals to maintain research productivity will also enhance his credibility. "It's becoming much more prevalent nationally for people in academic leadership positions to continue to be engaged in the work of the faculty member and lead by example in that way," he said.

Beyond academics, Bharucha has spent this year working on filling four open deanship positions, learning about the schools where the positions are open, and putting together search committees to select candidates.

In addition to filling open positions, Gittleman said that the provost is expected to act as "the psychiatrist, the psychologist, and the animal trainer of the university."

"[The position] needs standards, energy, capacity to be a cheerleader and a bandleader, and he's all of that," Gittleman said.

Bharucha has also spent time helping to finalize plans for the new dorm that will be built this summer, and developing a sense of which campus facilities need renovation, updating or expansion.

Bharucha's leadership style has been described as quiet but effective by many colleagues and students.

"He has a very easy-going and light air about him, but he definitely takes his job very seriously," said Charline Han, a junior and student co-chair of the Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience. "We are all very thrilled about his support for our proposal for the Summer Scholars program and are very pleased that research is a top priority for him," she said.