The president of Tufts University is the chief administrator of the university and is appointed by the chair of the Board of Trustees of Tufts College. [1] The president is appointed by the board who leads and directs the university. The current incumbent is Sunil Kumar.
# | Image | President | Tufts class | Life | Tenure | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | Hosea Ballou II | – | 1796–1861 | 1853–1860 | Tufts College is established in Medford, MA (1852) on Walnut Hill. |
– | Oliver Dean [2] | – | 1783–1871 | 1860–1862 | (acting president); founded Dean Academy in 1865 | |
2 | ![]() | Alonzo Ames Miner | – | 1814–1895 | 1862–1875 | Expansion and Civil War |
3 | ![]() | Elmer Hewitt Capen | 1860 | 1838–1905 | 1875–1905 | First alum to be president |
4 | Frederick W. Hamilton | 1860 | 1860–1940 | 1905–1912 | Jackson College founded | |
– | ![]() | William Leslie Hooper | 1877 | 1855–1918 | 1912–1914 | (acting president) |
5 | Hermon Carey Bumpus | 1905 | 1862–1943 | 1915–1919 | ||
6 | John Albert Cousens | 1898 | 1874–1937 | 1919–1937 | Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy founded | |
– | George Stewart Miller | 1906 | 1884–1971 | 1937–1938 | (acting president) | |
7 | ![]() | Leonard Carmichael | 1920 | 1898–1973 | 1938–1952 | |
8 | Nils Yngve Wessell | – | 1914–2007 | 1953–1966 | ||
– | Leonard Chapin Mead | – | 1913–2002 | 1966–1967 | (acting president) | |
9 | Burton Crosby Hallowell | – | 1915–2006 | 1967–1976 | ||
10 | ![]() | Jean Mayer | – | 1920–1993 | 1976–1992 | |
11 | ![]() | John A. DiBiaggio | – | 1932–2020 | 1992–2001 | |
12 | ![]() | Lawrence S. Bacow [3] | – | 1951– | 2001–2011 | |
13 | Anthony Monaco [4] | – | 1959– | 2011–2023 | Tufts acquires the School of the Museum of Fine Arts | |
14 | Sunil Kumar | – | 2023– |
Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, Massachusetts, and in Talloires, France. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. Tufts remained a small liberal arts college until the 1970s, when it transformed into a large research university offering several doctorates.
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses, a satellite campus in Springfield and also 25 campuses throughout California and Washington with the University of Massachusetts Global.
Martin Thomas Meehan is an American academic administrator, politician, and attorney. Since July 2015, Meehan has served as the President of the University of Massachusetts after serving as Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell since September 2007.
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The School of Arts and Sciences (A&S) is a school of Tufts University, a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It is the largest of the eight schools and colleges that comprise the university. Together with the School of Engineering, it offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the liberal arts, sciences, and engineering. The two schools occupy the university's main campus in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts and share many administrative functions including undergraduate admissions, student affairs, library, and information technology services. The two schools form the Faculty of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering (AS&E), a deliberative body under the chairmanship of the president of the university. Currently, the School of Arts and Sciences employs approximately 540 faculty members. There are over 4,300 full-time undergraduates and 1700 graduate and professional students.
The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine of Tufts University is a graduate school of veterinary medicine located in North Grafton, Massachusetts. The Cummings School is the only college of veterinary medicine in New England. The school is also part of the Higher Education Consortium of Central Massachusetts.
In the United States, a board often governs institutions of higher education, including private universities, state universities, and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual colleges and universities, or both. In general, they operate as a board of directors, and they vary by formal name, size, powers, and membership. In some states, members are appointed by the governor.
Jamshed Bharucha is an Indian-American cognitive neuroscientist who has served in leadership roles in higher education. He is the founding vice chancellor of Sai University, Chennai, and is a member of the board of advisors of India's International Movement to Unite Nations (I.I.M.U.N.).
James George Stavridis is a retired United States Navy admiral and vice chair, global affairs, and a managing director-partner of The Carlyle Group, a global investment firm, and chair of the board of trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation. Stavridis serves as the chief international diplomacy and national security analyst for NBC News in New York. He is also chair emeritus of the board of directors of the United States Naval Institute and a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
John Angelo DiBiaggio was an American dentist and academic who served as president of the University of Connecticut from 1979 to 1985, president of Michigan State University from 1985 to 1992, and president of Tufts University from 1992 to 2001. He was a "people person" known for his fundraising skills and fostering collaboration, interdisciplinary research and learning, and civic engagement.
Alonzo Ames Miner was a Universalist minister. He was the second president of Tufts University.
John Albert Cousens was an American Universalist businessman and educator who was the sixth president of Tufts College from 1919 to 1937.
Nils Yngve Wessell was an American psychologist and the eighth president of Tufts University from 1953 to 1966, overseeing its transformation from a small liberal arts college to an internationally known research university.
James Roosevelt III is an American attorney, Democratic Party official, and a grandson of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. As of 2021, he is the co-chair of the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee, a position he has held since 1995.
The Crane Theological School was a Universalist seminary at Tufts University founded in 1869 as the Tufts College Divinity School and closed in 1968. It was one of three Universalist seminaries founded in America during the nineteenth century, along with the Theological School of St. Lawrence University and the Ryder Divinity School at Lombard College. During its history, it granted 281 Bachelor of Divinity degrees, 152 Bachelor of Sacred Theology degrees, and two Masters of Religious Education, for a total of 435 degrees.
Ellen J. Kullman is a United States business executive. Since November 2019, she has been the chief executive officer of Carbon (company). She was formerly Chair and Chief Executive Officer of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company ("DuPont") in Wilmington and is a former director of General Motors. Forbes ranked her 31st of the 100 Most Powerful Women in 2014. Kullman retired from DuPont on October 16, 2015.
The president of Columbia University is the chief officer of Columbia University in New York City. The position was created in 1754 by the original royal charter for the university, issued by George II, and the power to appoint the president was given to an autonomous board of trustees. The university suspended operations upon the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, during which no individual served as president. When it was resuscitated by the New York State Legislature, the university was placed directly under the control of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York; its chancellor, George Clinton, served as the de facto president of Columbia University. Through the efforts of Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, control of the university was returned to a private board of trustees in 1787, which has to this day maintained the right to appoint or remove the president, who also serves on the board ex officio. The university's first president was Samuel Johnson, who held the office from 1754 to 1763, and its 20th and current president is Minouche Shafik, whose tenure began on July 1, 2023.
The history of Tufts University, originally Tufts College, can be traced back to 1847 when the Universalist Church set up convention for the creation of a university for the parish. In 1858, the college was established when Boston businessman Charles Tufts donated 20 acres of land to the church to establish the college. It is the third oldest college that was founded in the Boston area. During the 19th century the college grew. The official college seal, bearing the motto Pax et Lux was adopted in 1857. The school colors of brown and blue were selected in 1876. Tufts' mascot became Jumbo when P.T. Barnum gave a natural history museum to the university.