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Mehrdad Toofanian (College of Engineering '73)

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Like his siblings and many in his family's circle Mehrdad Toofanian (College of Engineering '73) chose to leave home early and study in the United States. While many of his Iranian peers were beginning to study abroad in California, France and Germany, Mehrdad left his home of Tehran, Iran in 1969 to finish high school at Chauncy Hall School in Waltham. The Boston area was "virtually the first place" to which he had ever travelled, but by the time Mehrdad started at Tufts in 1970, he had gotten used to the town. After being accepted to several universities in other States and to Tufts, he decided he didn't want to leave the "very student town" of Boston and even took a summer course at Tufts before his first year began to become less of a "stranger" on campus. To this day, he is glad he chose to stay in Boston and to study at Tufts, because he found the "whole experience very, very enjoyable."

"Lasting impact"
As an electrical engineering student, Mehrdad remembers his time at Tufts inside and outside the classroom as having had a "lasting impact" that "left a good mark" on him. One of his more memorable experiences resulted from his freshman roommate William Chasse's urging him to participate in his charitable activity. Looking after and engaging with disabled children for an afternoon at a time was a "huge experience" for Mehrdad, as he had never had any experience with disabled children before.

Mehrdad later repaid the favor to William for having been a great friend and roommate. After being turned down by several medical schools in the States, William was looking for other medical schools. Mehrdad told William that, "if you want to go to medical school, I'll get you into medical school." He reached out to a fellow Iranian who had studied at Tufts before transferring to Harvard. Her family was the trustee of the American university hospital in Shiraz, Iran and helped to get William's application reviewed. After he was accepted, William packed his bags quickly and bravely moved to Shiraz, where he studied in Iran for three years before transferring to a Pennsylvania Medical School. Today Dr. Chasse is a successful surgeon in Maine and they have remained very close friends.

Graduating Early
Mehrdad graduated one year early. He was able to do so because he was granted credits for advanced mathematics courses he took in high school, took extra courses at Tufts and taught Farsi for a semester in the Experimental College. He thought nobody would apply for his Farsi language class and that he could get that extra credit for teaching an empty classroom, but to his surprise it was a popular course. During that semester he taught a full classroom of students to read and write Farsi and had to in fact work for that credit, but considers it as one of the invaluable experiences he gained while at Tufts!

Although he graduated in three instead of four years, would he recommend doing the same to anyone else? Not a chance. He now tells his children to take their time. College is about more than learning a particular subject, and instead has a great deal more to do with maturing and developing socially: "You learn more about social skills and interacting at university than you do mathematics or academic things. My electrical engineering things haven't stuck with me. O.K. I know how to change a light bulb, but my social skills and the people I met have left a lasting impact on me."

Indeed, Mehrdad believes Tufts was too amenable by allowing him to graduate early. Having graduated a year earlier Mehrdad lost touch with his compatriots and had been largely out of touch with the Tufts community for close to 40 years until the International Center contacted him. Though he's followed some Tufts news and kept in contact with several friends, like his roommate, our getting in touch with him brought back so many "lovely memories."As a result he now plans to attend more alumni gatherings.

Tumultuous Times
"I always tell my friends and children that we went to school at a very interesting time." During the last years of the Vietnam War, there was a great deal of anti-war activism still on campus. Mehrdad remembers rallies and concerts on the hill to protest the war. At the International House students would gather in front of the television to watch the news and to learn how many Americans and Vietnamese killed in combat: "We were glued to the newsImagine if that happened today. So you have sort of a barometer of so many more killed, every night. It was just real strange times."

Despite the grim aspects of war that permeated the campus community, Mehrdad recalls the time as "hippyish" days. During his time on campus not one woman could be seen wearing a skirt! But when he visited Tufts just 5 years after graduating, he wondered whether it was the same university he attended: "The most shocking thing" he saw was that everyone was very well dressed.

International Club
Among only a few Iranian students on campus, Mehrdad had mostly American friends, but he also knew other international students, particularly from South America, and quickly became involved in the international community at Tufts. In 1971 Mehrdad came across the International Club, an extracurricular group devoted to promoting international understanding through social events, when he was asked to help two new Iranian students become oriented on campus.

Shortly afterwards, Mehrdad took on the role as treasurer for the International Club and in 1972 he became president of the Club. He was also active planning social events on campus. He fondly remembers organizing movie nights where older movies like King Kong were shown and all night events starting at 11pm and ending in the morning with a half hour break at 3am for snacks, during which time a series of movies featuring for example W.C. Fields or the Marx brothers were shown. These events were inexpensive to put on, but were very popular and raised money for the International Club.

International House
Also in 1971, Mehrdad was asked to be involved in the founding of the International House. He remembers going to the Dean with others to ask for an International House and was surprised to learn that the school not only granted the request, but also allowed the Davies House to become the International House.

Mehrdad lived in Hodgdon Hall with William Chasse his first two years at Tufts, but during his last year at Tufts (1972-1973) he lived in the International House. In fact, Mehrdad was the first House Manager! As the House Manager, Mehrdad took responsibility for selecting a 50/50 mix of American and International students to live in the House. After choosing people who would get along with each other, like former housemates Beth Collins and Lucinda Hill, as his first act as manager, Mehrdad says that he "selfishly" took the "only single room in the place" at that time!

As a social organizer for the House, Mehrdad planned weekly sangria parties with South American music to attract people to the house, which fittingly coincided with the growing population of South American students on campus. At that time the larger international student population was indeed growing, but the founders of the International House "didn't know if we put up posters and notices that there is such a party, if anyone would come." However, "very quickly we became very popular." The International House was very well received and its importance was even significant to the American students, "giving them a better understanding about students with different backgrounds and upbringings."

Mehrdad believes that the International House played a major role in familiarizing the American student with the mix of international cultures that attended Tufts and in acquainting them with other cultures, practices and more. He hopes that the House continues to offer this invaluable experience, especially in the very global village that we live in today. Asked whether he believes there is still a need for the International House, Mehrdad thinks that there might even be more of a need today. Today there's certainly still a role for the International House to play in furthering "international understandings," especially because sometimes cultural nuances can be lost in a global society. While the mix of international students may change, on the ground efforts like the International House help students to learn from each other.

An International Life
After leaving Tufts, Mehrdad went on to receive his MBA in International Business at NYU and lived in New York City for two years. Afterwards he returned to Iran where he worked for four years, before the Iranian Revolution forced him and his family to leave the country. He next moved to Canada and eventually settled in London, where he now resides with his wife and two daughters. He is the Chairman of Skymark Group which has two plants in UK, producing plastic packaging products for multinationals. Though he has travelled much in Africa, where he collects African masks from each place he visits, and Europe, Mehrdad has not returned to Iran since leaving before the Revolution. Today his family is very international: His oldest daughter works as a physician in Australia, his younger daughter attends film school in the United Kingdom, his sister lives in Hanover, Germany, one of this brothers lives in Orange County, California and the other in Toronto, Canada.

- Profile by Rachel Gravel (GSAS '12)