Jamshed Bharucha is an Indian-American cognitive neuroscientist who has served in leadership roles in higher education in the United States and in India.
Bharucha is the founding vice chancellor emeritus of Sai University,
Prior to becoming president of Cooper Union, Bharucha was provost and senior vice president
Early life and education
Jamshed Bharucha was born in
Mumbai. His father Jal Bharucha,
a
Parsi engineer from Mumbai, and mother Elizabeth Bharucha
(born Elizabeth Emily Robinson), a musician from Albany, New York, met at the University of Michigan. His parents were founding members of the Bombay International School,
from which Jamshed graduated. Bharucha studied violin in Mumbai, received an Associate’s Diploma in violin performance from Trinity College of Music (London) in 1973, and then continued to study violin at
Vassar College.
Bharucha graduated 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). At Harvard he worked with Carol L. Krumhansl, Stephen Kosslyn, William K. Estes and Roger Brown.
Academic and administrative career
Dartmouth College
Bharucha began his academic career at Dartmouth College, where he was John Wentworth Professor, and entered its academic administration as associate dean for the social sciences, eventually moving to deputy provost and then to become a dean of the faculty of arts & sciences.
He was the first
Indian American dean of a school at an
Ivy League institution. While in the Dartmouth administration, he established the Dartmouth Brain Imaging Center.
His principal faculty appointment was in the department of psychological & brain sciences, but he also taught in the program in linguistics & cognitive science and the program in electroacoustic music (now called "digital musics").
As an academic administrator, he launched initiatives on teaching and research, as well as their integration in the form of active learning, encouraging undergraduates to get involved in research with their professors.
After spending 2015-2016 at Harvard following his time at Cooper Union, Bharucha was appointed distinguished fellow at Dartmouth, where he taught in two departments: education, and psychological & brain science.
Tufts University
Bharucha moved to
Tufts in 2002 to assume the position of provost & senior vice president.
As provost, Bharucha oversaw the seven schools, the
Tisch College, the Institute for Global Leadership, the Fares Center and the Clinical & Translational Research Institute.
Bharucha launched the Summer Scholars program,
Cooper Union controversy and investigation by New York state Attorney General
Bharucha was appointed as the twelfth president of
Cooper Union effective July 1, 2011.
His tenure at Cooper Union was marked by a financial crisis and tuition protests. An investigation by the New York State attorney general's office ensued into the institution's decision to charge tuition for the first time in its history and other financial decisions made by the trustees.
This eventually led to the attorney general's office brokering a settlement of a lawsuit filed by a group of students, alumni and faculty.
On June 10, 2015 five of the trustees, who had been supporters of tuition and were opponents of the settlement, resigned.
The following day, Bharucha announced that he would be resigning to become a visiting scholar at Harvard University.
SRM University - Amaravati
Bharucha served as the inaugural
vice chancellor of SRM University, Amaravati, a new university in the newly designed capital city (
Amaravati) of the state of
Andhra Pradesh in India.
He established a partnership with
Minerva Schools to adopt their
active learning platform.
Sai University, Chennai
Bharucha served as the founding
vice chancellor of Sai University, a new university launched in the city of Chennai,
from 2020 to 2024.
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