Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Teaching) Archives

Dr. Elizabeth Simon has 30 years of academic experience. She is an author, presenter, and expert in curriculum development, international collaboration, and accreditation. She secured Fulbright Scholar awards for 2015–16 and 2022–23, and the Fulbright Specialist award in 2026. Dr. Simon obtained her BS in nursing from Punjab University, India; her master’s degrees from Columbia University, Teachers College, and Hunter College; and her PhD in higher education from Walden University. She has authored books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles. She has also developed curriculum for new programs, revised curricula, and mentored faculty members. Besides, she has served as the founding dean and as a critical care nursing consultant.

Dr. Simon’s Fulbright-Nehru project is gathering support for designating trained sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) in India. It is also studying the wider scope for forensic nursing in India, with nurses able to take roles in medico-legal investigations and evidence collection, mental health counseling, and pregnancy prevention, specifically after a rape trauma. Curricular innovation is also part of the project in order to enhance the professional visibility and social image of nurses in India.

Dr. Sadhana Naithani is a Professor at the Centre of German Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. She is the Coordinator of the Folklore Unit at JNU, an Honorary Fellow of the American Folklore Society, and the current President of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research.

She did her Ph.D. in the field of German Folkloristics. She has been interested in the transformation of the concept of folklore in different historical contexts-under British colonialism, in Germany after World War II, and in the Baltic countries under Soviet occupation. She is the author of In Quest of Indian Folktales (Indiana University Press, 2006), The Story Time of the British Empire (University Press of Mississippi, 2010), Folklore Theory in Post-war Germany (University Press of Mississippi, 2014) and Folklore in Baltic History, Resistance and Resurgence (University Press of Mississippi, 2019). Her novella: Elephantine (Red Squirrel Press, 2016) is based on her research in colonial forestry led by German scientists in British India. She is on the editorial boards of journals Marvels and Tales, Cultural Analysis, and Journal of the School of Languages.

Dr. Naithani is deeply interested in the relationship of human and non-human beings experienced in cultural-political contexts and expressed in narratives. As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar at University of California, Berkeley, she will explore the narratives of British colonizers about the wild non-human animals of the colonies. She will teach a graduate course in the Fall Semester and an undergraduate course in the Spring Semester around her research theme.