Director of Education
Dr. Indu Viswanathan is an accomplished educator and scholar, holding a doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She earned her BA in Economics from Cornell University and an MA in Elementary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. With a career spanning over two decades in the field of education, Dr. Viswanathan has garnered global experience in program design, teaching, and teacher education.
In her early career, she worked as the Research Assistant to the Chief US Economist at Citigroup. However, driven by a desire to align her work with her dharma, Dr. Viswanathan transitioned to become a teacher. Her diverse educational journey includes serving American public schools, Ecole Française Internationale de Bombay, and contributing to educational NGOs such as Teach for India, Akanksha, and Nouvelle Vie Haiti.
Dr. Viswanathan’s association with His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for over fifteen years has deeply influenced her spiritual and professional journey. She has held various roles, including serving as the Director of Research for YES! For Schools (now SKY Schools), a nonprofit educational program of the International Association for Human Values (IAHV). This program focuses on holistic meditation, pranayama, and social-emotional learning to enhance the well-being of schools.
Currently, her research explores immigrants’ experiences in U.S. learning spaces committed to equity, with a particular focus on transnational consciousness in Indian Americans and Hindu Americans and how it informs their advocacy in education. Dr. Viswanathan’s work is grounded in decoloniality, and as an educational scholar, she is dedicated to contributing to and learning from the lived experiences of Hindu Americans.
Dr. Viswanathan is a second-generation Hindu American raising third-generation Hindu American children. She co-founded and co-directs Understanding Hinduphobia, an initiative aimed at increasing public consciousness and discourse about Hinduphobia, building allyship, and nurturing scholarship. As the Director of Education at the Hindu University of America, she brings her wealth of experience and commitment to fostering Dharmic voices in academia.