Indian-American Sunil Kumar takes over as president of Tufts University

Eminent Indian-American academician Sunil Kumar has been appointed the next president of Massachusetts-based Tufts University, the first person of colour to occupy the position.

Kumar, provost and senior vice-president for Academic Affairs at Johns Hopkins University was named the next president of Tufts University by the Board of Trustees and will succeed president Anthony Monaco as Tufts' 14th president on July 1, 2023, a statement from the university said on Thursday.

Kumar will be the first person of colour to occupy the position, the statement said.

Chair of the Board of Trustees and chair of the presidential search committee Peter Dolan said Kumar brings to Tufts a "lifelong commitment to excellence in higher education and an exceptionally strong record as a leader, teacher, and colleague.”

An “outstanding successor” to Monaco, Kumar's commitment to research and learning, along with civic engagement and innovation, will help bolster Tufts' mission to improve the world, Dolan said in the statement.

Indian-born Kumar was previously dean of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Among Kumar's priorities as president will be to develop ways “to ensure that we have even more resources to make Tufts as affordable as we possibly can,” he said in the statement.

In a video posted on the Tufts website, Kumar said he would not have achieved this position in life if it were not for the full financial support he received when he was a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

"It would not have been possible for me as a son of a police officer to do anything else. And therefore, affordability is not a theoretical concept for me. I hope I represent an example of somebody who benefited from an institution opening its doors wide.

“And I would like even more people to have the same opportunity,” he added.

The statement quoted Kumar as saying that he was attracted to Tufts because of its mission to serve “not only the people within its confines—its students, faculty, and staff—but society at large.”