Tisch College's Center for Information and Research on Civic Leadership and Engagement recently released a report detailing actionable recommendations for institutions and communities seeking to promote youth electoral engagement.
Tufts Hillel has hired Rabbi Jonah Winer as the new director of religious life. Winer, a Toronto native, has begun working with students and Hillel staff during his first few weeks on campus.
Eaton Hall is set to undergo a complete renovation, with preliminary work starting in November and construction beginning in 2023. The academic departments that currently operate out of Eaton have already moved to other locations for the remodel, which is set to be completed by the fall of 2024.
Heather Curtis, the Warren S. Woodbridge Professor in Comparative Religions, has been named the newest director of the Center for the Humanities at Tufts. Curtis will be the fourth director since the center’s founding in 2008.
One hundred members of the Class of 2026 moved into their new dorms at The Court at Professors Row last week. Located on the Vouté Tennis Courts that formerly housed the modular COVID-19 isolation units known as The Mods, The Court is a complex of three buildings that will house 150 first-years and nine resident assistants this fall.
Tufts joined 32 other colleges and universities in signing an amicus curiae brief for the Supreme Court of the United States affirming the legality of race-conscious college admissions. The brief, filed by Amherst College on Aug. 1, expresses support for Harvard College and the University of North Carolina in their ongoing legal battle to maintain students’ race as a factor in college admissions decisions.
In anticipation of welcoming students back to campus, Tufts announced its fall 2022 COVID-19 protocols in an email on Aug. 10. According to the email, the updated measures include the end of surveillance testing as well as the removal of a mask mandate. Infected students will also be directed to isolate in their rooms as opposed to the temporary housing on-campus students were asked to isolate in last academic year.
As monkeypox continues to spread in the United States, Tufts health personnel have shared advice with the Daily on ways students can avoid contracting the disease. A rare disease that is endemic to several Central and West African countries, monkeypox was reported in Europe earlier this year. Since then, the disease has spread to the United States.
Scheri Fultineer will become the next dean of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, beginning on Jan. 1, 2023.James Glaser, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and Caroline Genco, provost and senior vice president ad interim, announced the decision in an email sent to the Tufts community on Sept. 1.
Tufts announced on July 21 that it will disband the Institute for Global Leadership. The institute, founded in 1999, supports global education and scholarship through 28 program offerings, including student-led clubs, international exchange programs, research opportunities and alumni mentoring. The news came as a shock to IGL students and alumni, who have since mounted a campaign urging the university to reverse its decision.
Kyongbum Lee, dean ad interim of the School of Engineering, has been chosen to become the school’s next dean following a national search to fill the position, as announced in an email to the Arts, Sciences and Engineering community on June 28. Lee’s term begins July 1.
University President Anthony Monaco sat down with the Daily to discuss Tufts’ ongoing expansion, pandemic response, mental health and diversity, among other topics. Monaco also offered updates on the university’s finances and outlined his goals for the remaining year of his presidency.
Jaden Pena was elected as the next president of the Tufts Community Union on April 27. He will serve as TCU president for the 2022–23 academic year.
Editor’s note: The 2018–19, 2019–20 and 2020–21 recaps in this article are reprinted from the2020–21 Commencement Issue of the Daily.
The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life has worked this year to integrate civic engagement into higher education, private and public institutions and active community involvement. Under the leadership of Dayna Cunningham, who just concluded her first academic year as dean, Tisch College has been focusing its research and initiatives on building a multiracial democracy through civic education. The college houses several research institutes, hosts events and leads an array of community initiatives, all of which progressed in their work amid the turbulence of the past year.
As the Class of 2025 finishes its first year on campus, three members of the University Chaplaincy staff are also able to look back at their first year at Tufts. Buddhist Chaplain Ji Hyang Padma and Humanist Chaplain Anthony Cruz Pantojas joined the chaplaincy in summer 2021, while Muslim Chaplain Najiba Akbar started in fall 2021. The three chaplains reflected on their first year in interviews with the Daily.
The Tufts University Police Department has made reforms related to arming and mental health under the new leadership of Yolanda Smith, the first Black woman to directly oversee TUPD. The reforms, which have been met with mixed reception, stem from suggestions made by the WorkingGroup on Campus Safety and Policing which was assembled as part of the Tufts as an Anti-Racist Institution initiative.
Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey (H’19) and White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy (AG’81) visited Tufts to discuss measures in combating climate change on April 29.
The Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion announced a new identity center for Indigenous students at Tufts last fall, following recommendations from a workstream report the university published in early 2021. More recently, the university hired Vernon Miller to direct the center.
Professor of Philosophy Erin Kelly won a Pulitzer Prize in the biography category for “Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South” (2022),which Kelly co-authored with Winfred Rembert, the biography’s subject. Rembert, who died in 2021, received the prize posthumously.
