Trustees honor their outgoing chairman

Among the many tributes paid to Nathan Gantcher, A62, who retired as chairman of the Board of Trustees in November, was the nearly $1.25 million endowment for the Summer Scholars Program that was given in his name by all his trustee colleagues.

Sara Crabb, A05, spent her summer working on a feline nutrition project with Dr. Lisa Freeman at the School of Veterinary Medicine. © Mark Morelli

Inaugurated this past summer, the program teamed 30 undergraduates with faculty mentors to pursue research ranging from feline nutrition to the causes of Alzheimer’s disease to the feasibility of installing solar panels atop buildings on the Medford/Somerville campus.

James A. Stern, E72, the new chairman of the trustees, said he and his colleagues believe the innovativeness and inherent collaborative and interdisciplinary focus of the Summer Scholars Program “perfectly reflect the measure of a Nate Gantcher, who has been so instrumental in spearheading and nurturing new initiatives at Tufts for two decades—all of which have put this institution in the national and international spotlight.”

Provost Jamshed Bharucha said the Summer Scholars Program “crystallizes Tufts’ vision of an integration of teaching and research.”