Margaret Tarampi Appointed Next Director of University Interdisciplinary Studies
I am delighted to announce that Dr. Margaret R. Tarampi has been appointed as the Director of University Interdisciplinary Studies (UIS), effective July 1, 2023. Dr. Tarampi succeeds Dr. Katharine Owens, who has served as UIS Director since 2016.
Dr. Tarampi was selected as UIS Director following a comprehensive application and interview process. She originally joined the University of Hartford in 2017 as an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences. This past January, she was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor. Dr. Tarampi cultivates a unique approach to her research and teaching that is truly interdisciplinary. Her Spatial Cognition and Physical Environments (SCaPE) Laboratory investigates the cognitive mechanisms that underlie space perception and spatial cognition in select populations including visually impaired individuals and spatial experts such as dancers and architects. In addition, her research on crowd dynamics has been funded by a grant from the Army Corps of Engineers. Dr. Tarampi graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Architecture and from the University of Utah with a PhD in Cognition and Neural Science. Her interests in the effect of architecture on quality of life brought her to the American Institute of Architects in Washington, DC, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, and the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind at the University of California Santa Barbara. Margaret is also an accomplished visual artist whose work explores assumptions and manipulations of the human perceptual system.
Dr. Tarampi brings passion and energy to interdisciplinary education. She has a collaborative vision for how UIS can function as a bridge between disparate disciplines across schools and colleges. The UIS core emphasis on integrative learning can be a differentiator for UHart whereby our students learn to think, problem solve, and communicate across disciplines. Dr. Tarampi also brings expertise in fostering a sense of belonging in the classroom, and plans to continue to enhance these efforts in our UIS curriculum.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Tarampi on her new appointment, and thanking Dr. Owens for her outstanding service to the University Interdisciplinary Studies program.
Best wishes,
Katherine Black
Provost