Dr. Nandita Das named as Fulbright Scholar

The J. William Fulbright Program has selected Dr. Nandita Das, professor of finance, to receive a scholarship award that will send her to teach in India for a semester.

However, with international travel largely suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains to be seen whether the trip scheduled for the spring semester 2021 will take place or be delayed.

Dr. Das received the notification from the Fulbright Scholar Program in late January, just as the first cases of the pandemic in the U.S. were confirmed.

“Luckily, I have the Fulbright Scholar Grant for the spring of 2021, and both the Fulbright Program and the host institution in India have confirmed that they will be flexible with when I can come,” Dr. Das said. “Now it is merely a ‘wait-and-see’ game as to how the world evolves post-COVID-19.”

When she is able to go, Dr. Das will use her Fulbright grant to teach Portfolio Management and Security Analysis at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong (IIM). She will also conduct collaborative research on Socially Responsible Investing.

“The teaching of portfolio management and security analysis using case methods and my research in Socially Responsible Investing will have a synergistic relationship and also help in the host institution’s mandate of promoting sustainability while offering quality management education and research,” Dr. Das said. “I will also help the host institution develop a graduate certificate course in Financial Planning.”

Dr. Das said she has been thinking about applying for a Fulbright Scholars Grant for about five years, but initially put the idea on the back burner so she could focus on establishing herself as a good teacher, research and mother. After she established a Financial Planning minor in 2017 among the University’s College of Business curriculum, she renewed her Fulbright aspirations.

“Once I had successfully developed the program, my natural progression was to be answerable to the little voice in my heart that said I needed to use my skills of ‘intersectionality’ of teaching styles of the Eastern and the Western higher education system,” Dr. Das said. “I also started thinking about how my research in Sustainable Responsible Investing can benefit Delaware State University and the host institution.”

Dr. Das’ found a good fit with IIM – located in the Indian city of Shillong. “More importantly IIM Shillong has a mandate of promoting sustainability that was important for my own value system, my research, and Delaware State University’s commitment to the sustainability and economic development of the global community.”

Other past Fulbright Scholars from Delaware State University over the past decade include Dr. Constance Beugre, Dr. Ladji Sacko and Dr. Kevina Vulinec.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.