Chandani Patel, PhD

I am an educator, mentor, scholar, and advocate dedicated to creating more inclusive teaching and learning environments and building a more just world. Central to the work that I do to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion across the preK -12 and higher education contexts and other sectors is my strong scholarly and professional grounding in postcolonial studies, social justice education, and critical pedagogy. I also have extensive leadership experience in the field of teaching and learning and have cultivated robust facilitation, consultation, assessment, and collaboration skills over the arc of my career. I excel at working with diverse audiences to support diversity, equity, and inclusive efforts and initiatives -- from what takes place in the classroom or meeting space to the organizational and institutional level.

 

I hold a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. in Comparative Literature and an M.A. in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University. My scholarly work focuses on transnational networks and questions of home and belonging within the Afro-Indian Ocean, with particular attention to the literature of South Asians in East and South Africa, as well as on literary connections between the Indian and Atlantic Ocean worlds. I serve as the co-chair of the Academic Council as well as on the Editorial Collective for the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA).  

​

I am currently the inaugural Director of Equity and Inclusion at Rowland Hall, an independent preK-12 school in Salt Lake City.