Jamshed Bharucha

Jamshed J. Bharucha has been Provost and Senior Vice President of Tufts University since August, 2002. As Provost, Bharucha is the chief academic officer of the university, overseeing the seven schools, Tisch College and cross-school programs. The provost is also responsible for driving institutional and budgetary priorities, and for academic planning. Since coming to Tufts, Provost Bharucha began the Summer Scholars program, which provides opportunities for undergraduate students to work on collaborative research with faculty across the university and its affiliated hospitals. He started the Provost's Fellows program and the Graduate Competitiveness Initiative, both of which enhance Tufts' efforts to recruit the very best graduate students. He also launched the University Seminar, a cross-disciplinary course, open to undergraduate, graduate and professional students, focusing on a topic of global importance. Working with the International Board of Overseers, he has implemented a strategy of international education and engagement with Mexico, India, China, Africa, and the Middle East. Bharucha was instrumental to the construction of the Granoff Music Center at Tufts and is leading the planning of an Integrated Laboratory Complex, which brings together Engineering and Biology.

Biography and Education

Bharucha graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College where he majored in biopsychology (1978), then received an M.A. in philosophy from Yale University (1979) and a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Harvard University (1983). He also has an Associate’s Diploma in violin performance from Trinity College of Music and enjoys playing chamber music.

Academic and Administrative Career

Prior to coming to Tufts, Bharucha spent his academic career at Dartmouth College, where he was the John Wentworth Professor and served in several leadership posts, including Deputy Provost and Dean of the Faculty. His primary appointment was in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, but he also taught in the Program in Cognitive Neuroscience, the Program in Linguistics & Cognitive Sciences, and the Program in Electroacoustic Music.

At Tufts, he is a Professor in the Departments of Psychology, Music, and Neuroscience.

Bharucha has served on a number of boards at foundations and academic institutions. He was a Trustee of Vassar College from 1991 to 1999, where he chaired the Budget and Finance Committee. He currently serves on the Board of Corporators of Hallmark Health and the Board of Visitors of the Longy School of Music.

Research

Bharucha conducts research in the field of cognitive psychology and neuroscience, focusing on the cognitive and neural basis of the perception of music.

He has been the editor of the interdisciplinary journal "Music Perception" and was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 1993-94. He has received numerous grants for his research, and has served on the National Science Foundation’s advisory panel for Perception and Cognition.

Selected Publications

Essays on cognition and higher education

Bharucha, J. (2008). Cognitive dilemmas in higher education. In M.E. Devlin (Ed.), "Futures Forum 2008". Cambridge, MA: Forum for the Future of Higher Education and NACUBO.

Bharucha, J. (2008). America can teach Asia a lot about science, technology, and math. "Chronicle of Higher Education", 54 (20), January 25, pp. A33-34.

Bharucha, J. (2007). The globalization of higher education. In J. Brockman (Ed.), "What Are You Optimistic About?" New York: Harper Collins.

Bharucha, J. (2006). Squeeze a bit more from this sponge. "Times Higher Education Supplement", September 8, p. 4. London: TSL Education.

cholarly articles (selected)

Tillmann, B., Janata, P., Birk, J. & Bharucha, J.J. (2008). Tonal centers and expectancy: Facilitation or inhibition of chords at the top of the harmonic hierarchy? "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance", 34, 1031-1043

Bharucha, J.J. (2008). Expectation as an implicit process (Tribute to Leonard B. Meyer). "Music Perception", 25, 477-478.

Bharucha, J.J., Curtis, M. & Paroo K. (2006). Varieties of musical experience. "Cognition", 100, 131-172.

Janata, P., Birk, J., Van Horn, J. D., Leman, M. Tillmann, B. & Bharucha, J. J. (2003) The cortical topography of tonal structures underlying Western music. "Science", 298, 2167-2170.

Tillmann, B., Bharucha, J.J. & Bigand, E. (2003). Learning and perceiving musical structures: further insights from artificial neural networks. In R. Zatorre & I. Peretz (Eds.) "The Cognitive Neuroscience of Music". Oxford University Press.

Tillmann, B., Janata, P., & Bharucha, J.J. (2003). Activation of the inferior frontal cortex in musical priming. "Cognitive Brain Research", 16, 145-161.

Janata, P., Birk, J.L., Tillmann, B., & Bharucha, J.J. (2003). Online detection of tonal pop-out in modulating contexts. "Music Perception", 20, 283-306.

Tillmann, B., Janata, P., Birk, J., & Bharucha, J.J. (2003). The costs and benefits of tonal centers for chord processing. "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance", 29, 470-482.

External links

* [http://provost.tufts.edu Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President]
* [http://www.tufts.edu Tufts University]
* [http://www.necn.com/Boston/World/The-Main-Event-Reconciliation-in-Iraq/1215570319.html Interview on New England Cable News]
* [http://www.necn.com/Boston/World/Iraqi-leaders-find-common-ground-in-secrecy-/1209433704.html New England Cable News coverage of Iraq Diplomacy Initiative]
* [http://http://library-cafe.blogspot.com/2008/02/jamshed-bharucha.html Interview on "The Library Cafe," WKVR]
* [http://discovermagazine.com/1996/oct/musicofthehemisp895 Discover Magazine article on music and the brain]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE4DC133AF935A25756C0A963958260 New York Times article on music and the brain]