Dr. Tracy Poon Tambascia is the Veronica and David Hagen Chair in Women’s Leadership and Professor of Higher Education in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. Her areas of interest include international higher education, higher education policy, student affairs, and student access and success in higher education. At Rossier, she teaches courses in the doctoral programs and chairs dissertations.

Tambascia is Chair of the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), former President of the USC Academic Senate, and has served on the Board of Directors for NASPA.

Tambascia’s scholarly activities include a book chapter, “Letters to my 25-year-old self: Lessons learned in a changing higher education environment,” in the Handbook of Research on Leading Higher Education Transformation With Social Justice, Equity, and Inclusion (IGI Global, 2021). She also co-authored two book chapters, “Culturally-aligned mentorship of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) graduate students and educational leaders,” in Best Practices and Programmatic Approaches for Mentoring Educational Leaders (IGI Global, 2023) and “Building cultural capital and workforce skills for immigrants through adult education in the United States” in the Handbook of Research on Promoting Social Justice for Immigrants and Refugees Through Active Citizenship and Intercultural Education (IGI Global, 2021). Tambascia has also served on numerous invited panels, presented at national conferences, and held various editorial roles with national higher education journals and publications.

Prior to this faculty role, Tambascia worked in student affairs administration. She was Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and Dean of Students at Whittier College. She has also led student affairs departments at Mount St. Mary’s College and Occidental College. Tambascia has supervised offices such as residential life, counseling services, student life, disability services, financial aid, admissions, career development, registrar and financial aid. She also wrote and managed grants, including several from the James Irvine Foundation and Title V.

Tambascia earned her Ed.D. in educational leadership from the University of Southern California, M.A. in psychology from California State University, Los Angeles, and B.A. in psychology from Occidental College.

Current Term

2023 – 2026