Tufts announced the appointment of Cigdem Talgar to Vice Provost Education, a new position within the Provost’s Office, in an email to the Tufts community on Nov. 3. The official start date for Talgar is December 1.
Talgar comes to Tufts after serving as deputy vice chancellor of the educational innovation division at Northeastern University. Talgar’s background is in psychology.
“Where I Am Today is the result of the fusion of two different passions, one for advancing research in cognition and attention and the other for high-impact, evidence-based teaching and learning. evidence,” Talgar wrote in an email to The Daily. “Shortly after completing my PhD in Experimental Psychology (specializing in Cognition and Attention), I had the opportunity to integrate my research with the work in education and pedagogy that was being advanced by the Center for Teaching and learning from my university.”
Talgar said his time at Northeastern taught him valuable strategies for implementing large-scale, holistic educational programs at a university.
“I developed key skills in collaboration, relationship building, creative solutions, integrative, transformative and holistic learning, all skills that I believe will help me learn from the Tufts community, to collaborate to create new educational opportunities for our students and to generate excitement for the work we will undertake at Tufts,” Talgar wrote.
Talgar’s position is one of several other vice-rector positions the provost’s office has rolled out over the past few years. Caroline Genco, Vice-Principal and First Vice-President actingexplained new different roles.
“I have a new position in my office, that of vice-rector for innovation, which deals with innovation in education and research. … We have also created a vice-provost for the DEIJ, so I am building a team of people who are experts in these areas. … They are my senior team of vice-rectors who oversee these very specific areas across all of our schools,” Genco said.
Genco said the position of vice-rector for education was created to “[look] educating the full spectrum from undergraduate to graduate and professional students [and] coordinate it so we have this one Tufts education.
Talgar described his new role as “a combination of building a collaborative vision and leveraging the expertise and creativity of the community to create inclusive, holistic, interdisciplinary and transformative learning opportunities and journeys. within the institution”.
Although Talgar has not yet started her new job, she has begun to reflect on her first steps in action.
“The most important project for me as I begin this position will be getting to know the University and beginning to learn from my colleagues and students,” Talgar wrote. “Tufts has a rich history and a strong culture that focuses on impact. It was one of the things that attracted me to the University and this specific position.
Vice Provost Kevin Dunn, who works primarily in faculty recruitment and retention, discussed his responsibilities and how they will overlap with those of Talgar.
“I think the two positions will have to be in constant collaboration,” Dunn wrote in an email to The Daily. “To give an example, CELT, the Center for the Improvement of Learning and Teaching, is obviously an educational enterprise, but it is also part of faculty development, and my office is very interested in the work of the Center.”
Talgar described the challenges she expects to face with the start of her new job, noting that because the position is newly created, “different people may have different understandings of what the person in this role will be doing.”
“One of the most important parts of my first few months is developing the role in a way that will best serve the institution as we position it for the future,” Talgar wrote.
Dunn shared his excitement to begin working with Talgar alongside the other vice chancellors.
“Dr. Talgar is a highly skilled and collegial individual who will be well positioned to advance our educational efforts across the university,” Dunn wrote. “I truly look forward to working with her.”
Talgar expressed his excitement to begin his new role and join the Tufts community.
“To be able to collaboratively create and implement a vision for learning, I want to partner with people across the university to make sure the vision we develop represents where we want our [students] go and the impact we want them to have on them,” Talgar wrote.
