Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program Archives

Shubhrika Pansari

Ms. Shubhrika Pansari is an Assistant Professor in English at the Department of Law, Maharaja Surajmal Institute in New Delhi. She has qualified in the UGC NET three times and teaches literature and communication skills to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She has an MPhil in English Literature from Department of English & Culture Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh where she worked on her dissertation titled Feminine Voices in Retelling of Ramayana: A Study of Select Texts. Additionally, she has completed her Post Graduate Diploma in Translation from Indira Gandhi National Open University.

In her academic oeuvre, Shubhrika has presented papers at various national and international conferences. Her research areas include Indian mythology and Indian fiction. She loves mandala art and creates art from waste materials. She in fascinated by the diversity of cultures and loves to curate cultural events.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Shubhrika is teaching Hindi at Mississippi Valley State University. In addition to her teaching duties, she plans to foster a deeper understanding of Indian culture by exchanging knowledge about the diverse social, religious, and regional practices that shape the language. She is working on finding a way to link the East and the West through art and literature. She aspires to utilize her Fulbright experiences to explore new teaching methods amidst the traditional approach of teaching in her own country, and to come up with more hands-on and practice-oriented pedagogies grounded in art and literature.

Ananya Mishra

Ms. Ananya Mishra is a PhD candidate in English at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, working in the areas of life writing, gender, and class. She has taught English language and literature at postgraduate, undergraduate, and middle school levels, and currently teaches a diploma course in translation. Fluent in Hindi and English, with beginner-level proficiency in French, she brings a multilingual and multicultural approach to her teaching. She enjoys engaging with music, cinema, theatre, and art, and loves playing the guitar. She is deeply passionate about exploring local and global cultures and aims to explore cross-cultural dialogues between India and the US.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at the Michigan State University, Ananya is not only representing and communicating the rich and pluralistic culture of India but also immersing herself in the diverse traditions, histories, and lived experiences of American society. She believes that the medium of teaching and learning in and beyond classrooms can be an effective approach to building such cultural bridges.

Aakash Sharma

Mr. Aakash Sharma is an Assistant Professor of English Literature and Language at the University of Delhi. With a master’s degree in English and ongoing doctoral research at the Department of English, University of Delhi, his scholarship is centered on the Partition of India, exploring how politics shapes collective memory and the negotiation of identities in its aftermath. His academic interests extend to cultural memory studies, the politics of representation in South Asian narratives, and post-colonial theory.

Affiliated with the University of Delhi’s Centre for Independence and Partition Studies, Aakash conducts oral history interviews with survivors of Partition. By preserving these lived experiences, he seeks to illuminate the persisting impact of Partition for future generations, viewing it not as a distant historical event but as a pivotal moment that continues to shape contemporary society and individual lives. His research, published in reputed journals, critically examines issues of representational politics in literature and cinema.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Aakash is teaching Hindi at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is committed to fostering cross-cultural dialogue and deepening students’ engagement with Indian culture. He views language teaching as a vital bridge to intercultural understanding and global citizenship. Aakash intends to integrate the pedagogical insights and intercultural perspectives gained through the Fulbright program into his teaching and research in India.

Shantanu Kumar

Dr. Shantanu Kumar is a Junior Resource Person at the Linguistic Data Consortium for Indian Languages, Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore. He is primarily a linguist with a passion for leveraging technology, pedagogy, and data-driven research to advance language technologies, particularly for Indian languages. He holds a PhD and an MA in Linguistics from the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, and Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, respectively. He contributed to developing Maithili Anulekhika, a pioneering speech recognition tool that marks the first instance of speech technology support for Maithili, a low-resource language.

As a multilingual team leader, Dr. Kumar is dedicated to bridging traditional linguistic knowledge with technological innovation and rigorous academic standards. He has been instrumental in creating numerous datasets crucial to language technology development. He has coordinated numerous workshops and conferences related to computational linguistics, data collection, and language documentation. He has co-authored multiple peer-reviewed publications and book chapters on topics related to corpus and computational linguistics. He is passionate about language documentation, digital humanities, and inclusive language technologies, with a long-term vision to integrate linguistic heritage with cutting-edge AI applications.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Dr. Kumar is teaching Hindi at the Department of Asian Studies, University of Texas at Austin. He is actively engaged in exploring American cultural diversity and promoting India’s social and linguistic heritage. His future aspirations include establishing inter-university collaborations through the adoption of trans-disciplinary approaches in language learning and teaching.

Pragya Sengupta

Dr. Pragya Sengupta is an Assistant Professor of English at VIT-AP University. She completed her MPhil in 2012 and PhD in 2021 from the Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies, University of Hyderabad, under the supervision of Dr. Sriparna Das. Her research interests dwell mainly in indigenous knowledge systems, cultural memory, and translation as resistance. With a strong interdisciplinary approach, her work bridges literature, ethnography, and cultural studies. She has published articles in journals such as Translation Today, Explorations and Apni Maati. She has also translated academic works in the journal named Encounters in Translation.

Beyond academia, Dr. Sengupta channels her passion for comedy and drama as a writer and performer. She translates between English, Hindi, and Bengali, and is an active member of International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS) and Comparative Literature Association of India (CLAI). In 2024, she attended the Translation Research Summer School at Shanghai, China.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Dr. Sengupta is teaching Hindi at Ohio University, Athens. She is getting the learners to engage with Hindi not only through its grammar and vocabulary but through lived culture. During this program, she is introducing the learners to Hindi as well as its regional dialects and creating space to explore the broader non-Hindi linguistic traditions of India. To spark curiosity and deeper cultural connection, she envisions using Bollywood movies, short and engaging literary texts, collaborative events, and Indian art exhibitions.

Jaya Upadhyay

Dr. Jaya Upadhyay is Assistant Professor of English literature and language communication at DIT University, Dehradun. She keeps her lessons interesting by linking them with diverse cultural stories. During her graduate studies in English Literature, she formed a deep interest in exploring narratives, which later translated into the study of gendered discourse in Indian screen narratives as her doctoral topic. She completed her PhD in 2019 from the University of Lucknow. The examination of cultural life is an enduring passion that Jaya is unfolding through research and writing articles, some of which have been published in the Web of Science and Scopus.

A notable experience adding to Dr. Upadhyay’s personal and professional growth was her time as a “Fellow in Ideas 2021” at Harrison Middleton University in Arizona. This online fellowship offered her a chance to engage in conversations on subjects ranging from apple picking to robotics. It was here that she was formally introduced to the Socratic method of discussion, which has enriched her teaching and learning experience.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Dr. Upadhyay will be teaching Hindi at Yale University. She is planning to bridge common symbols and analogies between Indian and American cultures in innovative ways to enrich the learner’s experience. She is confident that her time at Yale will benefit her teaching skills and provide a fresh perspective on building interactions, holding discussions, and incorporating modern technology in classrooms while adding to her personal development.

Dhara Kanchan

Ms. Dhara Kanchan is a passionate scholar deeply interested in language, literature, culture, and Indian classical music. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Gargi College, University of Delhi, and a master’s degree in English from Banasthali Vidyapith, Jaipur. Fluent in Hindi and English, she has intermediate proficiency in the Bundelkhandi dialect, and elementary knowledge of Sanskrit and French. Actively engaged in academic discourse, she co-translated a classic Hindi text published in Becoming Translators: Theory and Practice of Translation. She has presented papers at national conferences and would like to pursue PhD research at the intersection of translation studies, cultural studies, philosophy, and folkloristics.

Dhara’s academic engagements are complemented by active social engagement through the National Service Scheme, including teaching underprivileged children at St. Stephen’s College’s Social Service League. She has over five years of training in Indian classical ragas on the synthesizer under Ustad Latif Ahmad Khan. She recently began learning the flute. She is a certified yoga practitioner (Patanjali Yogpeeth) and holds a diploma in the Bhagavad Gita from ISKCON in Ayodhya, enriching her understanding of Indian philosophy.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant in Hindi at Wesleyan University, Dhara is aiming to create an immersive, learner-centric classroom by integrating literature, art, and cultural media. This opportunity to teach, audit courses, and immerse herself in American culture will deepen her intellectual horizons and pedagogy. For Dhara, this Fulbright journey reflects her core principle: Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktaye (knowledge is that which liberates), fostering transformation for self and society.

Akshiti Sharma

Ms. Akshiti Sharma recently completed her MA in English from the English and Foreign Languages University, submitting a dissertation focused on developing accessible and inclusive learning materials for ESL learners through Translanguaging. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in education and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi, where she was actively involved in the institute’s debating and literature societies, as well as the National Service Scheme (NSS).

Beyond academics, Akshiti has been deeply engaged with social initiatives through her work with the NGO Connecting Dreams Foundation. There, she contributed to Project Kilkari, teaching underprivileged children practical communication skills and empowering women from marginalized communities with technological literacy. She has worked as a content developer with Disha Publication Inc. and BookWatch. She recently translated a Hindi novella into English, blending her interests in language, education, and cultural exchange.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at the University of Michigan, Akshiti is contributing to the university’s South Asian Language Program, fostering cross-cultural understanding and further exploring translanguaging practices and development of innovative materials to create more inclusive and effective language teaching methodologies. She hopes to apply insights gained from the Fulbright program to enrich language education in India, particularly for multilingual learners in diverse contexts.

Sheryl Alexander

Ms. Sheryl Alexander earned her master’s degree in English literature from the University of Delhi in 2023, after completing her bachelor’s degree from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi. In addition, she completed another master’s degree in Migration and Diaspora Studies from Indira Gandhi National Open University in 2025. She has worked as a lecturer in the Department of English at St. Xavier’s College, Jaipur, where she taught undergraduate courses in Romantic and pre-Romantic poetry, Indian writing in English, and foundation English language studies.

Her research interests lie at the intersection of memory studies, migrant diasporas, and minority studies, with published works on literary hauntology, diasporic identities, and cultural memory. She has been a research intern at the Centre for Memory Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. She has also contributed to the Indian Network for Memory Studies, in addition to presenting papers at national and international conferences. Beyond teaching at a university, she has volunteered with Dalit and migrant communities in Jaipur, where she explored inclusive and interactive language pedagogy.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Sheryl is a primary instructor of Hindi at the University of Kansas. She is also involved in curriculum designing and developing learning resources for the language program. She hopes to utilize her Fulbright experience to foster cross-cultural dialogue by integrating her research insights on literature, memory studies, and diaspora narratives into language instruction to create a holistic learning experience. She aims to enrich her pedagogical practices with intercultural perspectives to bring back to her classroom in India and contribute to building meaningful academic exchange between India and the United States.

Aiman Wahab

Ms. Aiman Wahab is an English language teacher at Jamia Middle School. She completed her postgraduation in English literature from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi in 2022. She worked as Digital Academician at Bloombrain Learning Solutions. As a mentor at Bloombrain, she provided spoken English classes to adults and enabled them to cultivate their soft skills, ace their job interviews, and achieve proficiency in the English language.

Ms. Wahab is a poetry enthusiast and has a passion for teaching language using learner-centric methods. Her poetry and articles have been published in journals, online magazines, and anthologies. Her zealous participation in slam poetry, nukkad naatak, and qawwali performances during her graduation has enabled her to use these as pedagogical tools in her classroom and to create a vibrant learning experience for her students.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Ms. Wahab intends to create cultural awareness about India’s rich heritage and employ interactive methods to introduce Hindi language and literature to her students. She looks forward to exploring new techniques of teaching foreign languages through her experience in the U.S.