Provost and Senior Vice President Jamshed Bharucha will leave Tufts at the end of the academic year to assume the position of president of The Cooper Union in New York City effective July 1, he announced last night.
Bharucha, who has served as provost since 2002, said he will leave Tufts with a deep appreciation for the university.
"I have loved every minute of my eight years at Tufts, and I have found it to be one of the most extraordinary places there is. Tufts is truly a unique institution and I think it has potential to be one of the great institutions of our time," he told the Daily last night.
Bharucha said that while he has enjoyed his time at Tufts, he is ready to assume the position at Cooper Union as the next step in his career.
"It will have been nine years, and I think it's time to move on to a new adventure," he said. "The [Cooper Union] position was really an excellent opportunity."
Bharucha cited Cooper Union's promise as an emerging institution as a reason he decided to take the position.
"It's a jewel of an institution, but it also has enormous upward potential, which is what I thrive on," he said.
In an e-mail sent last night to the Tufts community, Bharucha said that he looks forward to leading Cooper Union partly because of its progressive tuition policies. The college is one of the few in the country to offer free tuition to all its students, regardless of their financial circumstances.
Bharucha said he made the decision to leave Tufts "a couple weeks ago."
University President Lawrence Bacow, in a subsequent e-mail sent to the Tufts community, praised Bharucha's dedication to Tufts and his accomplishments as both an administrator and a scholar.
Bacow in his e-mail said that University President-elect Anthony Monaco intends to conduct a national search for Bharucha's successor. Bacow said that he will consult with Monaco in appointing an interim provost, who will assume the office in July.