Meet Our Staff

MIT Spouses & Partners Connect is sponsored by Community Wellness at MIT Health.

New to MIT? Come meet the staff at the Newcomer Office Hour (see upcoming dates on our calendar).

Jennifer Recklet Tassi - Program Manager

After graduating from Smith College with a degree in psychology, Jennifer spent a year in Milan, Italy working as an au pair. When she returned to Boston, she began working as a temporary secretary at MIT, and she's been at the Institute ever since. In 1997, she began working for MIT Spouses & Partners Connect and has truly enjoyed meeting and working with people from all over the world. Her interests include cultural adjustment, career transition, and community building, and she loves reading, drinking tea, spending time outdoors and laughing with her husband and daughter.

As the program manager, Jennifer oversees daily operations and manages the administrative, strategic, and financial aspects of MIT Spouses & Partners Connect. Jennifer provides direct support to members through individual consultations, as well as recruiting and supporting the volunteer Executive Committee. She collaborates with other offices and programs at MIT to build support for spouses and partners, and she also educates MIT administrators about the specific challenges and issues facing our members. Jennifer also manages the MIT Language Conversation Exchange. You can reach her at reck@med.mit.edu.

Viktoriia Palesheva - Program Assistant

Viktoriia, aka Vika, graduated from Herzen University in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with a degree in speech psychology and psycholinguistics. She used to work as a researcher in Berlin and Utrecht (Holland); her focus was on child language acquisition, raising bilingual kids. Vika moved to Boston in 2016 and started her career at MIT in the International Scholars Office and International Student Office. She loves spending her off time teaching kids Russian, biking in front of the Charles River, exploring Boston’s art scene, and modern theatres. Vika hopes to support who has relocated to Boston during the process of adjusting to their new surroundings and help them to feel accepted and valuable.

In her role as our program assistant, Vika supports the MIT Spouses & Partners Connect mission by ensuring the smooth delivery of our events and programs, as well as helping to promote MIT Spouses & Partners Connect to newcomers. She helps orient new spouses and volunteers, and provides communications to our members and the wider MIT community. You can reach her at vpalesheva@med.mit.edu.