Rushika Patel

Biography

Rushika Patel serves as UMSN's first Chief Inclusion Officer. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies and Organizational Leadership from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with an emphasis in Global Studies in Education, a Masters in Education from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with an emphasis in Education for Social Justice, and a BA in Sociology, Psychology and English from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor with an emphasis in Race, Class, and Gender Studies. 

Prior to joining UMSN, Patel directed the Women's Center and Intercultural Center at the University of Michigan-Flint and led a number of  other campus wide diversity-related initiatives. She has 17 years of experience in the education sector in the U.S. and in Asia, and widely ranging experiences including teaching for Detroit Public Schools, teaching in Japan and India, and higher education administrative work in Texas, Massachusetts, and Michigan. Her research and publication interests focus on critical race, class, gender and citizenship studies in Education.