Three University of Hartford faculty have been named North Star Collective Faculty Fellows for 2025: Rashmi Viswanathan, Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art in the Hartford Art School; Stephanie Tavarez, Assistant Professor of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences; and Jacqueline Lubin, Assistant Professor of Special Education in the College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions.
Affiliated with the New England Board of Higher Education, the North Star Collective (NSC) is a group of colleges and universities in the New England region that are committed to transforming their institutions and uplifting BIPOC faculty on their campuses. The vision for the NSC is two-fold: to support institution leaders in their transformative work and create spaces that nourish and uplift BIPOC faculty.
The NSC Faculty Fellowship is a semester-long fellowship that promotes healing and repair by providing a nourishing community of care, mentorship, and professional development for early-career BIPOC faculty in New England. The Fellowship is created by BIPOC faculty for BIPOC faculty to support their professional development. It is focused specifically on supporting fellows’ writing and publishing endeavors and overall well-being, which are both essential to advancement, tenure, and promotion. The Fellowship provides a support network for BIPOC faculty to help navigate the challenges they face in their academic careers, to promote wellness and healthy work-life balances, and to foster a community of care for Fellows’ holistic growth. The Fellowship is unique in its focus on racial trauma healing.
Dr. Stephanie Tavarez is an Assistant Professor in the Online Master’s in Organizational Psychology program and the Lab Director of the SHINE Lab. She specializes in various areas of I/O Psychology, including organizational development, training design and effectiveness, diversity and inclusion, quantitative and qualitative research, consulting, and coaching. Her work focuses on shaping human interactions, promoting DE&I in academia and research, and enhancing employability among minoritized groups. Dr. Tavarez is passionate about teaching at her alma mater and fostering students’ learning profiles through critical thinking and creativity.
Rashmi Viswanathan is the Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the University of Hartford, a Smithsonian Institution Postdoctoral Fellow, Senior Fellow with the American Institute of Indian Studies (supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities), and a Leonard A. Lauder Visiting Senior Fellow with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts. She writes on histories of Modern art in and against the nation-state in the 20th century.