By Elise Swanson, Senior Research Manager, Center for Education Policy Research, Harvard University

I first met Tatiana in 2019, when I joined the Pullias Center as a postdoctoral fellow on the PASS Phase I project. I could fill this space entirely by talking about the impact Tatiana has had on my professional trajectory. Thanks to her, I had an amazing postdoctoral experience where I got to work on incredible projects, strengthen my publication record, attempt to write grant proposals, and develop relationships with the incredible collaborators and scholars in Tatiana’s orbit. 

After I finished my postdoc, Tatiana kept me in her circle, and we were able to set up a collaboration between USC, Harvard and the Los Angeles Community College District examining their pandemic recovery efforts and investments in distance education. This project represented some of Tatiana’s values as a researcher — her commitment to a deep and sustained relationship with LACCD and to doing practical research that can strengthen student success and equitable outcomes. I’m grateful for these and countless other professional doors that were opened in my career because of Tatiana.

While Tatiana has had an undeniable impact on my career and on the field of higher education research, I want to also celebrate the indelible personal impact she had on those around her and those she mentored. I arrived at USC feeling, as many newly-minted Ph.D.’s likely did, that the list of things I didn’t know was impossibly longer than the list of things I did, and moving across the country to a place I had never been — with no one I knew — left me feeling even more disoriented. 

Tatiana exuded warmth from day one and made me feel welcomed and valued. She validated my knowledge, trusted my skills, and gave me opportunities to grow. She invited me to her home, introduced me to the best food trucks at USC’s weekly farmers’ market — her food and restaurant recommendations were always spot on — and helped me appreciate the somewhat intimidating but endlessly exciting behemoth that is Los Angeles. She offered advice and support as I wrestled with the question of what I wanted to do with my career. She did all of this patiently, authentically, and with her indefatigable sense of humor. 

Tatiana exemplified the power of building deep, lasting relationships with your co-authors, students and research partners. In our meetings we would talk about work, travel, family, pets — we never had a boring call. By always bringing her full self to the conversation, she made me feel comfortable doing the same. I try daily to channel what she taught me about effective mentorship in my current role, remembering how much it meant to me for her to really see and value me, to help me develop while nurturing my confidence. 

The impacts of Tatiana’s loss on the field and on those around her are incalculable, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully make sense of the fact that she’s gone. What I do know is that I’m beyond grateful for the four plus years I was lucky enough to have collaborated with Tatiana, that the lessons she taught me will stay with me indefinitely, and that I will continually try to pay forward the positive effects she had on me