Tufts is placing an increased value on academic research, trying to cement its reputation as a top-tier research institution while balancing this change with its traditional focus on classroom education.
Within the past three years, a number of new administrators with backgrounds at research-focused institutions have been hired.
University Provost Jamshed Bharucha joined the University in 2002 from Dartmouth College, and School of Engineering Dean Linda Abriola arrived this past fall from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Tufts School of Medicine Dean Michael Rosenblatt also began his Tufts career this fall from Harvard University.
Tufts' academic and research history is unique in that the school was a small commuter university just 50 years ago. This former emphasis, however, remains part of the University's character, according to administrators.
"We have always been a research university. However, unlike many other research universities, we are equally committed to our mission as a great undergraduate teaching institution," University President Larry Bacow said.
But at least one professor said that the increased focus on research while maintaining the same level of classroom education is making it tough on the faculty.
Bacow also said that faculty members are drawn to Tufts because "they are true teacher-scholars," and that students choose Tufts for its still-prominent liberal arts focus, the opportunities to collaborate with professors on research, and access to the graduate and professional schools.
"The most powerful undergraduate learning experiences are at research universities whose undergraduate liberal arts programs have high quality teaching and mentoring," Bharucha said.
Rosenblatt said that the number of faculty and professors in the National Academy of Sciences attesteded to their quality and motviation.
Not everyone agrees that Tufts' additional research focus has been completely without problems.
Biology professor Ross Feldberg believes that the school's dual emphasis could present some issues. "I think the University, in terms of faculty, is more schizophrenic than how it was," he said. "The desire to be both a top teaching university and a top research university had created this, because I'm not sure that it's always possible to do both simultaneously."
Feldberg said he has felt that the pressure on faculty has mounted over the years. "As we've become a more prestigious university, the desire to become even more prestigious has come," Feldberg said. "There's always been mixed messages sent to the faculty about whether we should concentrate on teaching or research."
"I think our students today are excellent," he added. "I know when they go out and take courses at other universities they tend to do very well, but the pressures on faculty to be both wonderful researchers and wonderful teachers have grown year after year. That's something that we all have to struggle with."
Abriola has found the University's emphasis on interdisciplinary work among graduate schools is valuable for research purposes.
Coming to Tufts from one of the nation's largest research institutions, Abriola has been one of Tufts' leading figures advocating more research.
Rosenblatt said that the collaboration between the Engineering and Dental schools to design artificial tissues for organ replacement has yielded "some of our most exciting research."
"I think it's important to get undergraduates involved in research. That's something I intend to do this summer with the [water lab] by hiring a handful of undergrads to work under me," Abriola said.
Bharucha spearheaded the Summer Scholars program, which debuted last summer. The focus of the program is to place emphasis on Tufts' strength in student-faculty research and interaction.
With the University's movement toward a research institution, there has been surprisingly little opposition or concern about maintaining Tufts as a small liberal arts college, according to administrators. "Our faculty has been very supportive of our efforts to strengthen the research infrastructure," Bacow said.
He listed investments in faculty research awards, lab renovations, increased support for graduate student fellowships, and support for University grant writing as items that have helped the Tufts faculty gain a more competitive edge for receiving government and foundation support.
Fostering a growing research institution does not come without financial burdens, though neither Bacow nor Rosenblatt were unconcerned about strain on the University budget. "These investments should yield greater research revenues in the future and continue to strengthen our reputation," Bacow said.
The costs for state-of-the-art scientific and medical technologies are "very high," according to Rosenblatt but, "we are fortunate to have researchers who have been very successful in attracting funding," not only for their own work, but for the whole institution as well.
Tufts Medical School ranks in the top third of all medical schools," but if teaching hospitals were included, "our ranking would be considerably higher."
Abriola will continue to work on initiating her Integrated Multi-Phase Environmental Systems Lab (IMPES) - also known as the water lab - in Anderson Hall this summer, while Rosenblatt would like to see the neuroscience department expand and collaborate with the other Tufts schools and teaching hospitals.
Bharucha said that there are plans for an "integrated lab building on the Medford campus," but this plan remains in the development stages.
- Rebecca Dince contributed to this article
