The Host

Dr. Venkat Ramaprasad is an educator, mentor, son, brother, uncle, and grateful close friend. 

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Born in Princeton and raised in Lawrenceville, NJ, he is an advocate of equitable access to equitable achievement in education. He studied English at Villanova University, and once complete, taught English in Sevilla, Spain, before returning to work a brief stint in commercial insurance. Once discovering that his field was not for him, he returned to school and earned his Masters in Arts of Teaching from The College of New Jersey, and later, his doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from The University of Texas at Austin. 

 

His doctoral research focuses on identity development of South Asian Indians, and how interactions in school with peers, curricula, and teaching styles engender particular ways of thinking about one's racial, cultural, and academic identities. He also explores the ways in which South Asians are conceptualized broadly through social, political, and economic discourses, as well as representations in film and popular media.

 

Educationally, he aims to develop critical thinking capacities in his students, helping them understand the ways in which their worlds are structured and how they are prescribed various identities in specific moments that they may take up, resist, both, or neither, in any given moment. Ultimately he seeks to provide his students the tools they need to be critically engaged actors in the world making informed decisions that not only impact them, but those around 

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Outside of the classroom, Dr. Ramaprasad is a huge fútbol fan and can be found watching early morning Premier League games followed by afternoon slots of La Liga during the weekends and Champions League during the week. He enjoys remaining physically active and living a healthy lifestyle. He is also very family-centered, and always looks forward to Friday pizza nights with parents, sister, brother-in-law, nieces, and nephew where they catch up on the week while enjoying home made pizza. 

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