A&S Annual Report 2024-2025 by Tufts University

Dean’s Message

I am very pleased to share the 2024-2025 Annual Report for the School of Arts at Sciences (A&S) at Tufts. The past year has brought great achievements and accomplishments as well as challenges not just for us at Tufts, but for universities and academia across the United States.

Despite the challenges we have faced, I am proud of the outstanding A&S successes of the past year. From another record-setting admissions season, to breaking ground on the construction of a new dorm, to recordbreaking research expenditures, to finalizing bargaining agreements with both our PhD students and our full-time teaching faculty, to supporting our community of students and scholars during an uncertain time, there are many wonderful achievements to celebrate.

I hope you will enjoy this overview of some of the highlights from the past year at A&S. We look forward to another year ahead, which will inevitably bring more challenges and, we hope, a multitude of new successes!

Bárbara M. Brizuela Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Professor of Education

AY 2024-2025 By

the Numbers

Undergraduate Statistics

5,736

Undergraduate Students

1,494

Degrees Conferred

(2025)

Acceptance Rate 12% Applications Class of 2029 26,866

Learn more about the Class of 2029

Most Popular Majors

Faculty Accomplishments

69 Named and Endowed Professorships, including 4 established this year. New full-time faculty starting in Fall 2025. Read their bios on the A&S website.

Music

Received the Society for Music Theory’s Public-Facing Scholarship Award for his New York Times article “How To Write Music for Rolling Boulders.”

Elizabeth Setren

Economics

Awarded the Presidential Career Award for Scientists Engineers (PECASE) by Department of Education research on METCO.

Visit the A&S website for more faculty highlights.

Anna Sajina

Physics and Astronomy Co-authored a study Astrophysics Journal with research from the James Webb Space Telescope, which helps researchers understand early galactic

Frank Lehman

Biology

Presidential Early Scientists and by the Education for her METCO.

Astronomy study in research Space researchers activity.

Published a study in Advanced Science revealing how biological robots called “Anthrobots” can become biologically younger than their original adult cells.

Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies

Premiered his latest film, a hybrid documentary called Night Fight, at the 2025 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Sociology

Awarded a grant from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation to support her project examining violence and states of exception in El Salvador and Honduras.

Child Study and Human Development

Mathematics

One of several Tufts faculty whose patents on innovative research landed Tufts on the list of top 100 U.S. universities granted utility patents by the National Academy of Inventors.

Conducted long-term studies which found that 4-H (Head, Heart, Hands, and Health) programs create positive youth development, leading to more fulfilling lives and community involvement.

Misha Kilmer

Anjuli Fahlberg

Michael Levin

Setren

Richard Lerner

Khary Jones

Sajina

Research

A&S Sponsored Research Expenditures

Faculty received one or more grants or fellowships

Professor and Chair of Earth and Climate Sciences Jill VanTongeren

Supporting Corporations, Foundations, and Federal Agencies

Our faculty, staff, and students secured grants and fellowships from numerous corporations, foundations, and federal agencies including:

American Chemical Society, American Council of Learned Societies, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, Barr Foundation, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Brown University, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Columbia University, Cornell University, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Deloitte LLP, Duke University, DutchCultureUSA, Foundation for Child Development, Guggenheim Foundation, Harvard University, Jack Miller Center, Jana Care, Inc., Johns Hopkins University, Juvenescence Limited, LEF Foundation, Mary S Mulligan Charitable Trust: C/O Bank of America, N.A., Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Neubauer Family Foundation, New York University, NIH - National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Northeastern University, Parents As Teachers National Center, Inc., Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, Rheumatology Research Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, Sandia National Laboratories, Society for Research in Child Development, Inc., Space Telescope Science Institute, Spencer Foundation, Stanford University, State of Vermont, Stoke Therapeutics, Technical Education Research Center Inc. (TERC), Teiger Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Grass Foundation, U.S. Army Research Office, U.S. Department of Energy, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Chicago, University of Massachusetts, University of North Carolina, University of Rochester, University of Southern California, University of Tennessee, Wagner Foundation, William Marsh Rice University, and William T. Grant Foundation

Undergraduate Student Stories

Mikayla

Paquette A25

Mikayla Paquette created the program Community Hoops, which aims to empower youth, on and off the basketball court. The program brings kids from the Medford and Somerville area together with Tufts varsity basketball players serving as coach mentors.

Anh Ngo A25

Anh Ngo founded Wells for Wells, which works to bring clean water to families in Vietnam. As a Laidlaw Scholar, she conducted research on the correlation between psychopathological and urinary tract symptoms in autistic adults. She hopes to become a doctor.

A25

Matthew Winkler combined his love of history and music to create a documentary on jazz singer Joya Sherrill. The 15-minute film, written and associate produced by Winkler, pays tribute to the groundbreaking artist and aims to elevate her profile.

Student Stories

Matthew Winkler

Sociology and Civic Studies

Child Study and Human Development History and Music

Graduate Student Stories

Ray Wang

AG25

Ray Wang’s recent research examined how family income and child characteristics, such as giftedness or special needs, determine whether parents invest in extracurriculars and tutoring. Wang hopes his research will spur meaningful policy change.

Bernadette Dineen

AG25

Bernadette Mary Dineen was an assistant in the Kounaves Planetary Chemical Analysis and Astrobiology lab, searching for signs of life on Mars. Her work involved investigating the chemical components of a biologically abundant period in the planet’s history.

Lea Levi AG25

Lea Levi is a pianist, composer, and captain of the Tufts fencing team who found countless opportunities to develop her many talents at Tufts. In her graduate program, she worked towards a career in data analysis to solve real-world problems.

Visit now.tufts.edu to read full profiles on some of our exceptional students.

MS in Economics

PhD in Chemistry

MS in Mathematics

A number of capital improvement projects on campus have progressed over the past year.

11. Capital Improvements

Tsungming Tu Complex

Longtime Professor of Mathematics Loring Tu brought his generous philanthropy to the Science and Engineering Complex with a gift that renamed it the Tsungming Tu Complex in honor of his late grandfather.

Eaton Hall

In January 2025, Eaton Hall reopened its doors for classes after a two-year renovation project. The renovation improves functionality, sustainability, and accessibility, while introducing a vibrant interplay of color and light as well as thoughtfully preserving architectural details of the original 1908 Eaton Library building. 401-403

Boston Avenue

Ground was broken on construction of a new residence hall at 401-403 Boston Avenue. The building, located across from the Medford/Tufts MBTA Green Line station, will allow students easy access to public transportation and offer a new apartment-style housing option to more than 660 juniors and seniors.

Strategic Plan

In early 2025, A&S began a new strategic plan to position the school for success in the future.

Initial goals of the plan include:

» Through a collaborative process, develop a crisp and unique articulation of our identity that is easily recognizable and allows us to stand out among our peers as a liberal arts school in an R1 institution and the only New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) school in the Association of American Universities (AAU).

» Elevate graduate education, research, and scholarship within A&S.

» Design curricular and co-curricular experiences and wraparound services to ensure we are an engine for student success and that we are educating students who will be innovative scholars, engaged global citizens, and responsible and empathetic leaders.

» Develop an organizational structure that will allow for optimal collaboration and effectively and nimbly respond to change.

» Support students, faculty, and staff through important changes by building community and trust.

Focus Areas

• School Identity

• Research and Scholarship

• Curriculum and Co-Curriculum

• The Future of Graduate Education

• Student Success

• Organization and Collaboration