Sunil Kumar has been chosen as the next president of Tufts University. Kumar will be the 14th president of Tufts and the first president of color. He will succeed current University President Anthony Monaco — who has served as president for 12 years and announced his upcoming departure in February — beginning July 1, 2023.
The search committee who ultimately chose Kumar consisted of members of the Tufts Board of Trustees as well as administrators, professors and students from across the university. The search was managed by the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller, which also led the committees that chose previous Tufts Presidents Monaco and Larry Bacow. Chairman of the Board of Trustees Peter Dolan chaired the committee.
Kumar is currently the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University, where he serves as the chief academic officer and second-ranking member of the university’s senior administration.
Before his tenure at Johns Hopkins, Kumar served as dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Operations Management at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Before that he was the Fred H. Merrill Professor for Operations, Information and Technology at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he worked for 14 years.
Kumar received a Master of Engineering degree in computer science and automation from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Mangalore University in Surathkal. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Kumar’s research in operations management focuses on the evaluation and control of manufacturing systems communication networks through the application of mathematical models which measure stochastic variability. His research also examines managerial problems through the lens of optimization methods and control theory.
Kumar’s work at Johns Hopkins has included building the Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative, which provides funding to sponsor students from underrepresented communities to receive Ph.D.s in STEM fields. Kumar also spearheaded the Fannie Gaston-Johansson Faculty of Excellence Program, an effort to increase faculty diversity at Johns Hopkins.
This is a developing story.
