Malvika Talwar

Dr. Malvika Talwar is an accomplished higher education leader whose career spans institutional effectiveness, academic administration, and teaching. She currently serves as Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness at Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3), a SUNY community college in the Finger Lakes region of Central New York. She leads mission‑critical efforts in strategic planning, accreditation, organizational development, and data-informed decision-making. In this role, Dr. Talwar co-led re-envisioning of the College’s Mission, Vision, and Values, guided the development of a comprehensive new strategic plan, and is revitalizing institutional effectiveness processes across academic and non-academic units. As TC3’s Middle States Accreditation Liaison Officer, she is steering the Self-Study process in collaboration with her co-chairs.

Prior to her current role, Dr. Talwar served as Associate Provost at TC3 from 2018 to 2024. Her leadership in academic affairs included redesigning the course scheduling system, strengthening adjunct faculty development, restructuring academic assessment and program review, and co-implementing Guided Pathways. She significantly advanced the College’s institutional research capacity by modernizing data infrastructure, expanding data visualization, and promoting a culture of transparency and data literacy. Her administrative stewardship involved grant management and development, and key initiatives in partnership with the Provost and the Office of Workforce Development contributed close to $5 million in funding, including significant enhancements to STEM infrastructure.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Talwar held progressive leadership and faculty roles at Northern Virginia Community College and East Central College (Missouri) where she coordinated curriculum redesign, championed active learning in teaching practices, and engaged in productive collaborations with her colleagues. Dr. Talwar enjoyed teaching, and learning from, students from many backgrounds.

Dr. Talwar holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Missouri and completed graduate coursework in Public Policy at Georgetown University, grounding her leadership in analytical rigor and building structures that enhance student success.