Gabriela Vargas

Gabriela E. Vargas Ph.D., (she/they pronouns) is Assistant Provost for Faculty Development In the office of the vice Provost for faculty at Tufts University, where they lead programs supporting faculty across every stage of their careers. Her portfolio spans new faculty onboarding and orientation, mentioning initiatives – including Mentor Space for faculty and postdocs, and Mentor Squares for VITAL faculty – and community-building efforts such as Write Here! Scholarly Writing Program. She also supports and collaborates with the Vice Provost for faculty on leadership development programing, including the Academic Leadership Program and dedicated support for mid-career, senior and chair-level faculty.

Dr. Vargas brings over a decade of experience in higher education faculty development to this work. Prior to Tufts, they served as the Director of Faculty Engagement and Early Career Development Programs and Assistant Director of the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity at Cornell University’s Provost’s Office. There, they worked closely with academic leadership to improve faculty recruitment and retention, developed data-driven Department Climate and Culture workshops through the NIH Cornell FIRST Grant, and co-lead the Faculty Advancing Inclusive Mentoring (FAIM) Resource Center – a partnership with the Cornell Graduate School that delivered mentoring workshops to more than 500 faculty at Cornell and peer institutions. Earlier in her career, they coordinated equity-focused research and mentoring programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Dr. Vargas holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from the university of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a B.S. in Mathematics and B.A. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Their scholarship and practice center on curriculum development, professional development for educators, and building a sustainable, holistic models of faculty support.