Curtain Call at MIT: Lorena Tovar's Portrait

Curtain Call at MIT: Lorena Tovar's Portrait

In a Nutshell with Lorena Tovar:

Hailing from the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), Lorena Tovar takes the reins as the assistant director for academic programs, vehemently overseeing the Master in City Planning (MCP) program. A seasoned insider at MIT for almost 15 years, she's amassed a wealth of institutional wisdom, networking, and supporting both faculty and students.

Joining the Fold in 2024: Lorena hopped aboard DUSP's ride but had graced MIT's hallowed halls before. She'd been toiling away in the Office of Minority Education and the Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center before becoming a parent. Later, she took a brief hiatus from MIT to discover the wilds of parenthood. On her return, she stumbled upon a project coordinator role at the MIT Media Lab's Center for Constructive Communication (CCC), a mysterious place she'd always been intrigued by. Her experiences at CCC felt kickass, akin to working at a startup, far from her previous jobs centered solely on students.

A Different Side: When an academic, student-focused position opened up at DUSP, Lorena jumped at the chance to reconnect with students, something that she cherished while at CCC. While her past roles involved dealing with students, managing an academic department and overseeing a degree program meant interacting with them in a distinct manner.

MCP: Cities Made Smarter: The Master's in City Planning (MCP) at DUSP arms students with the nuts and bolts needed to lend their expertise in both traditional and innovative planning roles. Here, social sciences, tech, and policy intertwine, empowering students to facilitate city development while promoting equity. Inside DUSP, there are four program groups (city design and development; housing, community, and economic development; international development; and environmental policy and planning) and labs. Lorena prides herself on being the MCP students' frontline warrior throughout their two-year academic adventure, guiding about 135 students in their initial or advanced year. She also works closely with faculty, acting as the conduit between them and their students. This relationship spans the realms of academic support, resource connections, and facilitating links with faculty on campus as needed. Lorena seats on the MCP Committee, a team responsible for guiding and monitoring the MCP program, including academic policies, program requirements, admissions, and student progress.

Sparking Impactful Change: One cherished project Lorena led during her Media Lab stint was Real Talk for Change Boston, a civic initiative that leveraged technology to amplify underrepresented voices during the 2021 Boston mayoral election. CCC teamed up with community leaders across Boston to address everyday social issues, particularly relevant as the city was still reeling from the pandemic. It was miraculous to collaborate with professors and researchers from CCC alongside community leaders, creating meaningful conversations and paving the way for underrepresented voices to be heard by the mayoral candidates. The Real Talk Fellows employed AI to sift through over 3,000 minutes of discussions, extracting pertinent themes, and the findings were published and shared at a candidate forum. This captivating experience instilled in Lorena a desire to dive deeper into her own community, eager to witness projects transform from embryonic ideas to impactful realities.

Embracing the MIT Spirit: Lorena appreciates the omnipresent sense of camaraderie among MIT staff, with everyone working towards a common vision of improving and bettering the world. Her recent roles have aligned with her personal interest in tackling social issues and utilizing technology to elevate underheard voices. Lorena encourages incoming MIT staff to be proactive, make the most of opportunities, and let their interests guide their careers. With her dedication to social justice, Lorena relishes her interactions with students and faculty working on projects aimed at enhancing local and global communities. She recently ran into someone she first met when they were both greenhorns on the MIT campus. At the time, they were both administrative rookies, but today, they lead as a director of communications. Embodying her advice, Lorena brings her personal interests into her job, ensuring a harmonious blend of work and passion.

1. Lorena Tovar, now the assistant director for academic programs at MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), has a long history with the institution, spanning nearly 15 years.
2. Prior to her current role, Lorena worked in the Office of Minority Education and the Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center, and took a brief departure to explore parenthood.
3. Upon her return to MIT, Lorena found herself in a project coordinator role at the MIT Media Lab's Center for Constructive Communication (CCC), a place she found intriguing.
4. When an academic, student-focused position opened up at DUSP, Lorena seized the opportunity to reconnect with students, whom she cherished during her time at CCC.
5. The Master in City Planning (MCP) at DUSP equips students with essential skills for traditional and innovative planning roles, merging social sciences, tech, and policy to promote city development while promoting equity.
6. Lorena guides around 135 MCP students throughout their academic journey, working closely with faculty to ensure academic support, resource connections, and facilitating links with faculty on campus as needed.
7. During her stint at CCC, Lorena led the Real Talk for Change Boston project, a civic initiative that utilized technology to amplify underrepresented voices during the 2021 Boston mayoral election.
8. Embodying the MIT spirit, Lorena encourages incoming staff to be proactive, seize opportunities, and let their interests guide their careers, as she does in her work focused on social justice, technology, education-and-self-development, and fostering a more equitable society.

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