Meet The Staff
Director of the Transitional Year Program
Since 2004, Erika Smith has served as the Director of the Transitional Year Program (TYP), a one-year academic program for outstanding high school graduates who have not had access to high quality educational resources prior to college attendance. In this role, she oversees the development and delivery of the program's instructional and academic support program, co-curricular programming, and advises students through and beyond their time in the program. As a member of the university’s Academic Services office, Erika also provides academic advising to students outside of the TYP, serves on the Executive Council of the Committee on Academic Standing, and the university’s First Year Experience Committee. Prior to serving as the program’s director, Erika served as Program Coordinator, and a math instructor in the TYP, and as a research assistant at Brandeis Heller School's Center for Youth and Communities. She has been on the program’s staff, and at Brandeis, since 2000. Erika holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University, where she matriculated as a Posse scholar (a merit leadership scholarship program that sends groups of students to top-tier colleges and universities), an EdM in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is a PhD candidate in Social Policy at Brandeis’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management. When Erika is not working (or studying), she likes to dance, run, and spend time with friends and family.
Department Coordinator for Transitional Year Program
Talia hails from Weston, MA and is a graduate of Boston University. She holds a BA in psychology and is excited to apply her interests to her role as a Senior Department Coordinator for Academic Services. Outside of Brandeis, Talia enjoys seeing musicals, playing tennis, traveling and spending time with friends and family. You might even find her singing Karaoke from time to time.