Meeting Faculty at my Indian Host Institution
Meeting Faculty at my Indian Host Institution
- Posted by Colleen
- On May 14, 2022
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- 5
Week two of my Fulbright experience involved several days of meetings with faculty and staff at the Karve Institute of Social Service, which is my academic host for the duration of my time in India.
The Karve Institute is just a bit smaller than my Social Work Department at home in terms of faculty, but it administers social work programs at the MSW and PhD level (we offer BSW and MSW). The Institute seems to be an independent entity in some ways, but it’s part of Savitribai Phule Pune University which is quite highly regarded (there’s an interesting video about it here).
My primary faculty connection at Karve is Dr. Mahesh Thakur who is head of the Mental Health & Disabilities center as well as the CSR cell (that’s Corporate Social Responsibility, which India is a global leader in–here’s a cool explainer video if you’re interested). Prof Thakur has spearheaded numerous community initiatives to help vulnerable groups throughout Maharashtra (especially women in poverty and people with disabilities), so I’m looking forward to visiting some of those projects in the coming weeks.
Although we hadn’t met prior to my arrival, we hit it off and jumped right into collaboration. We’re now drafting a plan for my time with the Institute, including a series of seminars that I’ll likely be giving to MSW students, new PhD students, and also faculty. And we’re already brainstorming possible longer term projects that could be developed in the future, including an MOU and virtual exchanges, in addition to the study abroad course that I hope to develop for UAB students. Lots of possibilities!
I’ll leave you with a few other photos from my first campus visit.
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