Tari Tan, ’08, graduated with a degree in biochemistry/biophysics and was a member of the University Honors College. Since then, she has built a career focused on advancing graduate education and academic innovation. She now serves as assistant dean for educational innovation and scholarship in the Office for Graduate Education and as a Lecturer on Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, where she works to improve graduate training through faculty development and the integration of evidence-based teaching practices into courses and curricula. In this Q&A, Tari reflects on her path from the Honors College to academic leadership, shares what drives her work and offers advice for students interested in higher education and teaching.
Q: What are you reading lately?
So I'm one of those people who read multiple books at once. I'm currently reading "Gathering Moss" by Robin Wall Kimmerer, "New Pathways to Medical Education" edited by Daniel Tosteson et al., and "What I Talk about when I Talk about Running" by Haruki Murakami.
Q: Can you share a little about what you’re doing now?
I moved to Boston, earned my PhD in Neurobiology from Harvard University, and completed an education-focused postdoc through the Curriculum Fellows Program at Harvard Medical School. And then I've just never left HMS! In the years since completing my postdoc, I have pursued a career that blends academic administration and leadership with educational practice (both teaching and scholarship), with a focus on biomedical graduate education.
Q: What drew you to your current path? Was there a defining moment or influence?
During my senior year at OSU I enrolled in an Honors College course taught by Dr. Kevin Ahern that was focused on preparing students to apply to graduate school (largely focused on medical school). I was pre-med at the time, but that course had me engage in deep introspection that ultimately shifted my trajectory from medical school to graduate school. It's no exaggeration to say that without that class, I probably would have gone done a different path!
Q: Looking back, what are some of your favorite experiences from your time in the Honors College?
Highlights for me including the social camaraderie my freshman year in the Honors College dorm, as well as the Honors courses. Standouts included the Honors section of introductory biology taught by Dr. Indira Rajagopal, the Honors section of general physics taught by Dr. Ken Krane, and a "Shakespeare via Ashland" course in which we got to see multiple plays in Ashland. That course was the beginning of my love for theater!
Q: How did the Honors College help prepare you for where you are now?
The Honors College was fundamental in preparing me for subsequent academic and professional work. The coursework fostered creative and critical thinking and the honors thesis was an absolutely fantastic experience that prepared me for graduate school. It was very empowering to enter grad school already having gone through the process of preparing and defending a research thesis.
Q: What skills, habits, or perspectives from your honors experience do you still use today?
Throughout my educational training as a learner, and also through my work as an educator, I engage in reflective practice and metacognition - the same type of introspection that I engaged in through my honors coursework that was critical to my own professional journey. I also still carry with me the intellectual curiosity and interest in collaborating with others from different disciplines that were instilled in me during my time in the Honors College.
Q: What advice would you give current Honors College students as they think about their futures?
Be willing to try new things and imagine possibilities for yourself beyond your current plan. When I started at OSU I didn't even know that neuroscience as a field existed, but in choosing to pursue a psychology minor I was exposed to a new field that became my passion and my professional field. Similarly, I never would have gone to graduate school if I had not allowed myself to pivot from my initial pre-med plans.
Q: What’s next for you? Any upcoming goals or projects you’re excited about?
I'm very lucky in that my job gives me the opportunity to work on a variety of projects all at once - there's never a dull moment! Some current projects about which I'm excited include a scholarship project focused on an AI-enabled tool to evaluate course syllabi to identify ways to make them more student-centered and a new "Teaching Practicum" graduate course that I'm designing for the spring.
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