University President Lawrence S. Bacow detailed his goals for Tufts in 2003, one-and-a-half years into his presidency.
Elements of a Great University
First, a great university is defined by its people. We need great students, great faculty, and great staff to make Tufts a great university. In the end, everything that we do is a means to attract and retain the very best people possible. Nothing else matters if we do not have great students and great faculty, and great staff to support them. So, that’s our primary goal as an institution.
Second, we must have a diverse learning environment. We must embrace diversity in every possible
dimension, and learn from our differences. It is one of the reasons why we ask humanists to study
science and mathematics, and engineers to study poetry and history. It is one of the reasons why
we seek a diverse culture in our community.
Third, a great university provides the capacity to work across traditional disciplinary boundaries. I think that the great intellectual challenges that we confront as a society lie not at the heart of disciplines, but rather at the edges and the intersection of disciplines. So, if we can make it easier for our students and faculty to work across traditional boundaries, we are likely to prosper as an institution.
Fourth, great universities succeed in integrating teaching and research. There are times at some institutions in which teaching and research are characterized as in tension. I do not think they are, if we do it right. Great teaching should reinforce great research, and great research should reinforce great teaching. Our students ask us questions in the classroom that we cannot answer. These questions then become the basis for future scholarship. We engage our students in the process of discovery in answering these questions, and the answers then become part of our curriculum. It is a process that reinforces itself if it is done right, and great universities do it right.
Finally, we need the resources to sustain this vision. Read the full text »
Tufts’ Vision
As we shape our future, quality will be the pole star that guides us. We will seek quality in our teaching and research and in the services that support our academic enterprise. Our programs will be those that meet our own high standards, that augment each other, and that are worthy of the respect of our students and of scholars, educators, and the larger community. Read more »
Higher Education in a Global Context
The future of higher education requires a new commitment to educate students for global leadership. Successful global leadership requires new ways of thinking about traditional academic knowledge, in order to address complex problems at global scales. It also requires the ability to think, communicate and act successfully across cultural boundaries.
At Tufts we seek to lead the way in defining what it means to be a university whose education and research have a global reach. Our students and faculty are engaged in international research and scholarship on issues ranging from AIDS to arsenic. They are grappling with the fundamental human forces that fuel conflict and cooperation in international affairs. And they are doing so through experiential global learning, distinctive interdisciplinary programs that apply academic knowledge to real-life situations around the world. Tufts University's emphasis on international education and research reaches across the curriculum, and infuses every school.
More about Tufts’ teaching and research, schools and centers »