Bárbara Brizuela, who has been named dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University, is a big believer in interdisciplinary research. “Knowledge-seeking has no disciplinary boundaries,” says Brizuela. “We’re going to need broad and connected perspectives to be able to solve the world’s biggest problems.”
The dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) and professor of education served as the school’s dean ad interim since July. Her appointment to lead the School of Arts and Sciences builds on a long and distinguished career as a teacher, mentor, researcher, and administrator.
As dean of GSAS since 2022, Brizuela led master’s and Ph.D. enrollment efforts for Tufts’ largest graduate school, spearheaded the development of the school’s mission and value statement, launched the Future Leaders Fellows program, redesigned the graduate financial aid process, and served on the university-wide Graduate Education Task Force. As academic dean and associate dean for diversity and inclusion in arts and sciences, she played an instrumental role in strategic planning around diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice issues at the school.
Brizuela began her career at Tufts in 2001 as an assistant professor in the Department of Education. She was promoted to associate professor in 2007 and to professor in 2015. She served as chair of the Department of Education from 2009 to 2012 and as director of the STEM Education Program from 2009 to 2014.
Her main areas of interest are mathematics education, early childhood education, and cognitive development. Her current research focuses on children’s learning of elementary mathematics, specifically mathematical representations and early algebraic thinking, and is funded by the National Science Foundation. A highly regarded scholar, she has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, books, and edited volumes in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
In a conversation with Tufts Now, Brizuela shared her distinctive perspective on education and her aspirations for the school.
You grew up in Argentina. What brought you to the U.S., and what attracted you to Tufts, first as a graduate student, then a faculty member, and then in the dean’s role?
I came to the U.S. for grad school. My dad is Argentinian, but my mom was originally from New Jersey, and she always dreamed that my sisters and I would, at some point, connect back to the U.S. I heard about Tufts originally because my middle sister had two high school friends who were here as undergrads and loved it. A friend of my mom’s also lived in the Boston area. She said, “Once you go to Boston, you’ll never want to leave.” And she was right!
This winter marks 30 years since I came to the Boston area to start my master’s degree here, in January 1995. Tufts is a place that has felt like home from the time I arrived. It’s a place with values that are very aligned with my own, and where people are very caring and empathetic.
How has your experience growing up in another country influenced you?
I spent most of my childhood in a dictatorship, started high school with the first modern democratic government in Argentina, and did all my schooling and undergraduate university studies in Spanish. I bring that particular and different perspective to my role and understand that not everyone shares the same background and experiences. When I’m interacting with students, I always remind myself that I need to learn more about them because of how different their prior experiences may have been from mine.
I am a mom. I am a Latina. I’m bilingual. We speak only Spanish at home. I’m proud of having that background and that lens. And I know that students and families appreciate that. They come up to me at events and say, “I’m so happy there is someone who speaks my language,” or “I’m so happy there is someone who understands what it’s like to grow up in a very different context.”
You’ve been a researcher of early childhood education and a professor in the Department of Education for over 23 years. How has that informed your work as a teacher and administrator?
I am constantly thinking about our students’ education both in and out of the classroom. I started my career as a preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school teacher. I’m a teacher first and foremost. That’s how I started my career, and that’s how I think of myself. When you’re a teacher of such young children, you have to think about their whole selves at every single moment. You can’t just think about whether they are reading or writing. You have to think about what they’re bringing into the classroom, their state of being, their affect. Are they hungry? Did they sleep well? Those kinds of things. It’s in my DNA to think of the whole student.
My own research has always been centered on a very resource-oriented perspective, as opposed to a deficit-oriented perspective. So I’m focused on how we create stronger and more supportive learning environments. I think this is crucial in my work as a teacher and administrator.
How do you describe Tufts students?
Our students are so inspiring. As someone from Boston would say, they’re wicked smart! But they’re more than that. They’re creative, passionate, entrepreneurial. They care about each other and their community. They’re invested in their growth and take full advantage of the opportunities that are presented to them. (Sometimes I wonder if they’re all getting enough sleep!) But they’re also invested in each other and in the institution.
I’ve been meeting more alumni and donors recently, and the love that they still have for Tufts decades later is really inspiring. It motivates me to make sure that 20, 30 years from now our students and alums still feel passionate about Tufts and want to stay connected to us.
You’ve worked at the university for most of your career. What are some of the advantages of having a dean from within the Tufts community versus someone from outside?
It’s a different institution than it was when I first arrived as a student 30 years ago or when I joined the faculty over 23 years ago. I understand the trajectory we’ve navigated at Tufts; I know the people, and I understand the challenges. But I also see the opportunities. I know what our strengths are and how we can build on them.
Understanding these opportunities and strengths, I want to continue to make Tufts, and the School of Arts and Sciences specifically, the best possible place to study, work, learn, and grow—whether you’re a staff member, a faculty member, an undergraduate student, or a graduate student.
What do you see as the strengths of the School of Arts & Sciences?
Our number one strength is our people. Our faculty are fantastic teachers and world-renowned scholars. Our staff are phenomenal—so committed to our students, so caring. When you start with such a strong base, you’re able to attract amazing students. You have the foundation for an astounding community.
I think our values are a strength—who we are and what we strive for in terms of the opportunities we want to create for our students, the kind of empathetic leaders we want to cultivate in our midst, the world-class researchers we want to support and foster as young scholars.
The inclusion of the SMFA in our community has also been an amazing benefit to everyone. At least once a month, I try to spend a full day there, and it’s so inspiring. I love hearing about Arts and Sciences students and Engineering students from the Medford/Somerville campus who go to the SMFA, not just because they want to do or learn art, but because they are exploring different topics through art. Those kinds of connections are really powerful.
Finally, we have an absolutely beautiful campus. And we’re also in a city that’s a learning hub with so many other universities. How we take advantage of that and build connections to other institutions is really great.
What makes the learning environment at Tufts different from that at other institutions?
I think what sets us apart from other schools of arts and sciences is the mix of schools that we have at Tufts and the opportunities for our students to connect with other disciplines. Continuing to build strong bridges among the schools is one of my priorities. I, myself, am an interdisciplinary researcher, and I think doing interdisciplinary work is easier at Tufts than it is at other institutions. We tend to describe Tufts as a having low walls, especially between departments. The number of shared appointments across schools and the opportunities to do very significant and impactful work across disciplines is a unique advantage at Tufts.
Tufts is the only NESCAC school in the Association of American Universities. When people come to the Medford/Somerville campus, they definitely feel like they’re at a liberal arts college, but we are also an R1 institution [in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education]. About two-thirds of our classes have undergraduate and graduate students learning together. These undergrads are likely to be in a lab with a master’s student, a Ph.D. student, a postdoc, maybe connected to labs across the university or with colleagues at the School of Medicine or the School of Engineering.
Our undergrads have an opportunity to participate in research and develop relationships with researchers that is quite different from the opportunities at most liberal arts colleges. Likewise, for graduate students, learning alongside more junior students who are so committed to their learning provides unique opportunities for mentoring and learning with them.
How do you make the case for investing in a liberal arts education?
Knowledge seeking has no disciplinary boundaries. If you think 100, 200 years back, there were just issues that needed to be solved or considered. You didn’t call them math or physics or chemistry. We created these artificial boundaries between disciplines, and they became extremely siloed over time. But we’re going to need broad and connected perspectives to be able to solve the world’s biggest problems.
I think of the humanities as the heart and soul of any intellectual pursuit. For example, if you don’t understand where we came from—our history—and the nature of knowledge; if you don’t know critical texts from different cultures and languages and how they inform our work today; if you don’t know how to perform close reading of texts or understand what it means to express oneself through different media… I just can’t think of learning without that essential foundation.
What lessons will you bring to your new role from your past leadership positions at Tufts?
I think the most important thing is to listen, to take time to process, to learn from our mistakes, and to lean on and trust the amazing team in the dean’s office and the incredible faculty and staff in the school. I think it’ll be an exciting adventure together. I’m looking forward to it!
