Introduction

Tufts’ first president, Hosea Ballou, 2d, welcomed seven students when Tufts College opened in 1854. Its latest president, Sunil Kumar, oversees an international Research-1 institution and home to nearly 14,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students across four campuses. Thirteen presidents have celebrated their installations on the Hill since Tufts' founding. Each was presented with the unique challenges of the time—and each left a unique mark on the university in turn. As President Nils Wessell noted in his inaugural speech, “The charge and the challenge are not mine alone even though upon me rests the first responsibility for meeting and sustaining them."

This exhibit offers a glimpse at each president and a survey of the highlights and major events of their tenures, as well as photographs and documents from each period. Inaugurations and early opinions of each president serve as focal points. The exhibit was originally constructed as part of the inauguration celebration welcoming president Sunil Kumar in 2023.

President, 2023 -

Formerly provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University and dean of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Sunil Kumar began his tenure on July 1, 2023, and will be officially installed as the 14th president of Tufts on Friday, October 6, 2023. Upon his appointment, President Kumar remarked that “Tufts is extremely well positioned to educate students to directly address the challenges of the future. We cannot afford to step back from society’s problems today but must fully engage in them.”