Dr. Indu Viswanathan

Director of Education

Dr. Indu Viswanathan holds a doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She received a BA in Economics from Cornell University and an MA in Elementary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has been a student of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for over fifteen years. 

Indu started her career as the Research Assistant to the Chief US Economist at Citigroup. She decided to become a teacher to align her work with her dharma. She has spent twenty years in the field of education, with global experience in program design, teaching, and teacher education, serving American public schools, Ecole Française Internationale de Bombay, and educational NGOs Teach for India, Akanksha, and Nouvelle Vie Haiti.

She served as the Director of Research for YES! For Schools (now SKY Schools), a nonprofit educational program of the International Association for Human Values (IAHV) that brings a holistic meditation, pranayama and social emotional learning model to help schools manage their well-being.  Her current research investigates immigrants’ experiences in U.S. learning spaces that are committed to equity; she studies how the phenomenon of transnational consciousness in Indian Americans and Hindu Americans informs their advocacy in education.

This ethnographic research is theoretically grounded in decoloniality. As an educational scholar, Indu is committed to learning from and contributing to the lived experiences and understanding of everyday Hindu Americans. At the heart of her work as an educator and scholar is her unwavering attention to her spiritual life and to her dharma, grounded in sadhana, swadhyaya, shraddha, and seva.

Indu is a second-generation Hindu American raising third-generation Hindu American children. In addition to having experienced how Hinduism is taught in American schools as a student, she has seen how it impacts her children and where it sits in conversations about school, immigration, and teacher education. She has been inspired by the openness and generosity of her academic mentors and feels encouraged by real possibilities and spaces to add Dharmic voices and reverence to the conversation.

Indu Viswanathan is the co-founder and co-director of the Understanding Hinduphobia, an initiative to increase public consciousness and discourse about Hinduphobia, build allyship, and nurture scholarship. She is honored and excited to join the Hindu University of America family as the Interim Director of Education. 

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Mrs. Khushboo Pandey

Student Counselor, HUA

Khushboo Pandey completed her Masters in Journalism from Mumbai University. She has worked for Indian Express and Magna Publication. Later, she switched to Recruitment and worked as a Senior HR Administrator. During her college days, she also worked as Customer Support Executive for IBM Daksh and Aditya Birla Minacs. She moved to the USA in 2012 and is currently doing an Associate degree in Fine Arts from Montgomery College, Rockville.

Khushboo Pandey is a pet lover and an avid reader.  She loves travelling and goes on frequent camping trips. She is a people’s person and loves to interact and help everyone around her. Khushboo Pandey is a Student Counselor and is passionate about helping the present and prospective students. She aspires to grow with the university and help HUA in its journey and vision.

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Dr. Sumedha Kashalkar

Director, Student Experience, HUA

Dr. Sumedha Kashalkar has completed a Bachelor’s degree in Homoeopathy (B.H.M.S) from Pune University and is a certified Ashtanga Yoga Teacher with 10+ years of experience as Yoga Instructor. She volunteers in different Dharmic and socio-cultural organizations like Arsha vidya Gurukulam, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Yogabharati, and local temples as a coordinator, event manager, communicator, teacher, and counselor.

She has organized, planned, and executed different intellectual and social programs engaging adults as well as kids. In her free time, she likes to read, sing and spend time with her husband, two sons and their dog. She has performed in various musical programs and also likes to participate in elocutions in Marathi.

At HUA, Sumedha aspires to support students in having a positive experience of the University and to guide them in their educational journey.

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Mrs. Devika Goud

Student Counselor, HUA

Devika Goud was born and raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. She is a Commerce graduate from Sharada University. Mother of two adorable children, she loves to work in the field of education. She began her journey in the education field as a private tutor and also has considerable work experience of client interface owing to exposure at International Call Centres.

She is currently a Student Counselor at the Hindu University of America and is excited about her association with the University. Her passion is working with students and ensuring that every person gets proper information about HUA it’s vision and mission and courses. She endeavors to provide support and information to people to help them become a part of the University’s journey in spreading Indic thought.

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Smt. Pragya Vats

Director of Registrations, HUA

An alum of the University of Delhi where Pragya Vats studied History in their Bachelor’s program, she is currently the Director of Registrations at Hindu University of America. She brings with her an extensive experience of client interface and support which she gained while working at Transworks, an Aditya Birla Company in Mumbai. She was the Subject Matter Expert (SME), which entailed handling corporate and supervisory calls, training new representatives on the program, and monitoring the quality of emails, calls, and chats. 
 
A deep commitment to the yogic cosmology which envisions transformative and new values in the world which inhabit brings her to the Hindu University of America. That the university is engaged in developing a new scholarship and pedagogy in the world of academia is a matter of special attraction for her.

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Mrs. Jyoti Yelagalawadi

Accreditation Liaison Officer, HUA

Jyoti Yelagalawadi has degrees in Sericulture (silk farming) from Mysore University and Computer Science from CUNY, Lehman College, with a minor in creative writing. She is also trained in Kathak and is pursuing her doctoral studies at HUA.

A natural storyteller, writer, and polyglot, Jyoti has varied interests ranging from drawing to rescuing cats and dogs. She managed a technical publication department in a software company until she decided to get back to her true passions — writing and working with children. Jyoti started a publishing company and a writing center to market books to children and mentored school-aged children to achieve their writing and publishing goals.

Many of her young students have won awards in short story and poetry competitions and have published their books. Jyoti Yelagalawadi developed a writing app, started a magazine showcasing young writers, and a storytelling channel after she brought her two companies under the single banner, Lekha Ink, Corp., of which she is now the CEO. She also played a big role in bringing out the first Hindu magazine for children with articles written by children and has choreographed large-scale dance dramas with children being the dancers.

Since her schooldays, Jyoti has been fascinated by the stories of Sri Krishna and his devotees. Meerabai and Purandaradasa’s songs brought Hindu philosophy close to her heart. Her love for stories and songs about dharma helped her research Hindu puranic stories, folk stories, and ballads from India and other indigenous cultures. Jyoti sincerely believes that the culture of a land is visible through the stories told by the folk of that land. She also believes that only children can create a world full of love and understanding. She hopes to cultivate the acceptance of peoples of diverse cultures in children by getting them interested in the stories of different lands.

Jyoti Yelagalawadi has volunteered at different levels in organizations like Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Samskrita Bharati, and with animal rescue organizations. She has authored eight storybooks and 83 books on the art of writing for children.

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Mr. Aravind Swami

Aravind Swami is the Vice President of Operations at HUA. He was an IT professional working in the American Power sector, with an MS in Software Engineering from BITS, Pilani and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Arizona State University. He has a keen interest in technology and finance. He is working towards the goal of financial independence so that he can “retire” early from his day job and dedicate full time to the service of Hindu Dharma.

He loves to guide and help young professionals achieve financial independence so that they are empowered and free to follow their own passion. Aravind has always been deeply involved in Hindu Dharmic learning and service. He has a passionate dedication to the work of securing “paramam vaibhavam” for Hindu Dharma and Hindu Civilization. He brings this dedication to his work with Hindu University, managing the Administrative, Finance and IT functions.

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Mr. Srinath S Chakravarty

Srinath S. Chakravarty holds an MS degree in Engineering, an MBA degree in Finance, and an Information Technology patent. His areas of interest include Sanskrit, Hinduism, and Vaishnava traditions.  Within the Dallas TX area, he was formerly area coordinator for Nama Inc. then for Samskrita Bharati USA, as well as volunteer for Sanatana Dharma Foundation.  He is currently a program manager in Bank of America and liaison for Sanskrit studies between Samskrita Bharati USA and HUA.

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Mr. Kalyan Viswanathan

President

Mr. Kalyan Viswanathan received his Master’s Degree in Computer and Information Science from Ohio State University and his Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science. He has studied the texts and traditions of Hinduism from an Advaita Vedānta perspective through a 21-year association with Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Founder of the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam group of institutions and the first Convener of the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha.

Mr. Kalyan Viswanathan serves as the President of the Dharma Civilization Foundation (established 2012) based in Los Angeles and is also the Founder and President of the Sanatana Dharma Foundation, Dallas, Texas (established 2007). He has had a long-standing interest in the promotion of the academic study of Hindu Dharma and played a key role in the establishment of the Mira and Ajay Shingal Center for Dharma Studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California.

In his prior career, he was a global practice director for an internationally known software consultancy Services firm. He is a member of the Board of Hindu University of America, and currently services as its interim President and Executive Vice President. He also teaches in the Continuing Education and Certification Division.

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