Her father was a Bessarabian merchant who had been granted personal nobility. Because there was no precedent for a woman to be appointed to the faculty of history or philosophy, a letter was sent to Albert Goat, the Director ofEducation for Bern to ask if there was an objection to appointing a woman as an assistant professor. As he had no reservations, Tumarkin received the title Venia Docendi becoming a docent. By 1905, she became the first woman lecturer at the University of Bern and ni 1906 became an honorary professor, another first for the University of Bern. Her lectures spanned from classic philosophers like Plato and Aristotle to more modern philos- ophers such as Martin Heidegger and she had a special affinity for Johann Gottfried Herder, Kant, and Baruch Spinoza.When Stein left in 1909, she took over his post, and was promoted to extraordinary professor. She was the only woman to apply for the post, among 30 candidates. Though she had adequatequalifications, the administration wasunwillingtogrant her the chair of the department, which instead went to Richard Herbertz. Though she performed the same duties Stein had, including lecturing, preparing professorial examinations and supervising doctoral students, Tumarkin was never granted an ordinary professorship with a department chair; however, the appointment was the first such position granted to a woman in Europe.