Diversity

The mission of the Tufts Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is to offer graduate programs that feature stimulating academic opportunities, innovative research environments, and close mentoring from a world-class faculty. We emphasize the importance of communication, leadership, and teamwork skills. While we value a solid foundation within the discipline of any particular field of study, we strive to enhance the quality, breadth, and academic diversity of graduate education by providing opportunities for cross-Department and cross-School activities that take advantage of the unique academic environment offered by Tufts University.

In addition to promoting academic and research diversity in our graduate programs, our mission is also to achieve cultural diversity by developing an academic and social environment that welcomes underrepresented groups in all of our programs. The diversity of the backgrounds and experiences of our graduate students deeply enrich our community and we are strongly committed to having a diverse and active graduate student body.

Arts and Sciences graduate students are an integral part of Tufts. They come here to study, investigate, grow intellectually, perform research, conceive new ideas, and develop insights in a variety of areas of study. They are a vibrant component of our campus and we welcome and encourage opportunities to interact with them and listen to their thoughts and ideas.

There are a number of organizations and offices at Tufts that focus on issues of diversity. Graduate students interested in learning more about these offerings can access the links below:

Graduate Alliance for Multicultural Empowerment (GAME)

Office of Institutional Diversity (OID)

Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO)

Funding Opportunities

<p><strong>Adriana Zavala</strong>

<br/><em>assistant professor, art and art history</em>

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<p><b>Current Research:</b> "My book on images of women in 20<sup>th</sup>-century Mexican art is forthcoming.   I am now working on a new project titled: <i>Imaginative Geographies: Mexico City in the Artistic Imagination</i>.  The project focuses on Mexico City as a subject in the artistic imagination, with an emphasis on contemporary visual artists and filmmakers that take Mexico City as their principal subject. "</p>

<p><b>Why Tufts: </b> "I was very interested in Tufts' commitment to internationalism and having researched the university and the Department of Art History I was confident that it was the right place for me, intellectually and philosophically. The students are also exceptionally dedicated and I have supervised several top quality master’s theses."</p>

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<p><strong>Ellen Pinderhughes</strong>

<br/><em>associate professor and chair, child development</em>

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<p><b>Current Research:</b>  "In my research program, I seek to contribute an understanding of developmental processes in families whose children are at risk for dysfunctional behavior so that policies, interventions and services can be improved or designed to facilitate optimal child outcomes."</p>

<p><b>Why Tufts:</b> "I was impressed by the commitment that the university has to educating, training and preparing students for leadership in an increasingly diverse world.  The combination of a strong undergraduate program that has strong links between academic and service endeavors and a very strong graduate program in my department was quite attractive. I was particularly attracted to the multidisciplinary energy in the Eliot Pearson Department of Child Development that is focused on understanding children and families in the context of their cultures and on enhancing their lives through research, practice or policy advocacy."</p>

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<br/><em>assistant professor, education</em>

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<p><b>Current Research:</b> "I’m interested in investigating the effects and the effectiveness of inquiry-based curriculum material. I look at various assessment methods to measure whether and how they are working. Traditionally, people look at pre and post-tests to see if a curriculum is working, which doesn’t reveal what is happening in the middle of the curriculum period. I not only use the pre and post-tests but also collect data during the curriculum period, to develop learning trajectories before, during, and after instruction. I want to make all the links to examine how a curriculum is working. This includes looking at traditional assessments, but also projects, conversations, artifacts, explanations, and responses to curriculum prompts. This is a more authentic way of understanding what’s happening in the classroom."</p>

<p><b>Why Tufts:</b> "Boston is an exciting place and there are so many universities that are close by that you can reach anyone you want to. Also, the education department is a very close department where everyone knows each other. You don’t have to go through a large organizational structure to get something done. You just go to the person and talk to them."</p>

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<p><strong>Julian Agyeman</strong>

<br/><em>associate professor, urban and environmental policy and planning</em>

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<p><b>Current Research: </b> "I’m investigating the nexus between environmental justice and sustainable development movements, based on the conviction that permanent social and environmental policy change requires the vision of sustainable development and the awareness of justice, including a more equal distribution of resources and wealth."</p>

<p><b>Most Recent Book: </b> "<i>Sustainable Communities and the</i> <i>Challenge of Environmental Justice</i> puts forward the idea that social justice and environmental protection can be achieved through the concept of  'just sustainability'; a middle ground, or bridging paradigm between the stewardship-focus of environmental sustainability, and the anti-racist and anti-classist focus of the environmental justice movement."</p>

<p><b>Why Tufts: </b> "I’m part of a community where students are of such high quality. I am really impressed with their commitment to wanting to change the world. My students help with my research and challenge me constantly."</p>

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<p><strong>Keith Maddox</strong>

<br/><em>associate professor, psychology</em>

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<p><strong>Current Research:</strong>  "I'm interested in racial phenotypicality bias, which is the role that physical characteristics of the face play in the activation and application of racial stereotypes, particularly among African-Americans.  I'm involved in laboratory research on the Tufts campus, and I'm currently exploring opportunities to expand this research by establishing partnerships with individuals and organizations in the communities surrounding Tufts.  I also have graduate students who are interested in other issues surrounding stereotyping and prejudice, including the role of race in our perceptions of potential recipients of help, the role of race and gender in academic achievement, and how claims of racial or gender discrimination in the workplace may impact the way a person is perceived by others."</p>

<p><strong>Finding:</strong>  "My work has focused largely on one feature, skin tone.  Variability on this feature among Blacks is important, as those with lighter skin tone are stereotyped to a lesser degree than those with darker skin tone.  I've shown that people see variation in skin tone as a meaningful social variable.  This work has challenged previous research in social psychology which assumed that the variability in appearance found among racial categories was not important when it came to social perception and judgment."</p>

<p><strong>Why Tufts:</strong>   "Tufts University provides an atmosphere where teaching and research are both valued.  I find that maintaining a balance between the two is often quite challenging. But these efforts can be rewarding when the right institutional supports are in place."</p>

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