Fulbright Squared

Presented with flowers after my presentation on the Art of Persuasion: Written and Oral Skills at Jamia Millia Islamia School of Law (Mohammed Bakhtiyar, Syed Miran Ahmad, ADeela Siddiqui, me, Namra Khan, Syed Mohammed Haroron).

It all started when my friend and colleague, Dr. Catherine Cerulli, was awarded a Fulbright Specialist grant in the fall of 2017 to teach law and empirical research to law students at Jamia Millia Islamia School of Law. Through a collaboration with law students Umair Ahmed Andrabi and Naseer Husain Jafri, and supported by the Susan B. Anthony Center at University of Rochester, they launched a peer-reviewed journal, the South Asian Journal of Law, Policy and Research, with an inaugural issue focused on gender-based violence in South Asia.

Jamia Millia law students Haroon, Fizad, Tariq, Umair, Tanisha and Miran (founders of the NGO FAITH, Foundation for Academia, Innovation & Thought as well as the journal) in March of 2020 at the COVID-reduced conference at the Islamic Cultural Center in preparation of launching the South Asian Journal of Law, Policy and Social Research journal.

So I was lucky enough to first meet these Jamia Millia law students when I had the fortune to be on the editorial board of the journal and travel to Delhi, India, for the conference meant to launch the journal — in March of 2020. Daemen University sponsored my trip in an effort to expand their global programs. Needless to say, given the onset of Covid, the conference was very, very small and very, very short.

South Asian Journal of Law, Policy and Social Research — a peer-reviewed and open source journal with the inaugural issue on gender based violence in South Asia that included professional and compelling photos. After its launch on SSRN (open soure online database Social Science Research Network) the journal’s download climbed to the top ten in downloads.

Jamia Millia faculty and students hosting me, Catherine Cerulli and Catherine Faurot during our March 2020 visit.

Little did I know when I visited Jamia Millia in 2020 that I would be back in January of 2023 on my own Fulbright award for Academic and Professional Excellence.

In fact, I called on Umair and Tariq for help the first night I was in Delhi when I needed help finding a restaurant (not sure if it was Google Maps that was not working or just my jet-lagged brain). They drove an hour from their home to pick me up and take me to dinner. They were now practicing lawyers and we talked about their human rights cases.

After getting somewhat settled — I reached out to the new student leaders of the journal, Miran and Haroon, asking them to visit my NLU Delhi class on Research, Publication and Ethics to explain their work on soliciting, selecting, and editing articles for the peer-reviewed journal. The Ph.D. students in the class loved hearing about the publication process which could be useful in their own careers. One of the best parts? Celebrating with a tasty kabob dinner in Jangpura.

Our next project — w e collaborated with the Human Rights Watch to bring in a speaker on trauma-informed lawyering, which allowed practicing human rights lawyers to gain practical strategies on dealing with the impact of trauma in their clients.

Presenter Dr. Catherine Cerulli appearing by zoom for a stimulating and practical lecture on trauma-informed lawyering with some organizers and attendees of the event.

Getting ready.

Tanesha, Tariq and Umair.

The finale, I suppose, was the wonderful invitation to speak on persuasion to Jamia Millia law students on May 25th. I arrived at 9:30 for a 10 a.m. talk, which, once again, I thought would start at that time (it did not), also thinking, once again, that I would be ushered straight into the classroom (I was not), and once again, thinking I would be talking to a handful of students (hardly a handful). I was greeted by the Miran and Haroon, who took me to the Dean’s office, where we had tea and biscuits and met some other interesting faculty, and then I was brought into the large classroom where there were probably about 75-100 students waiting to hear my lecture on the “Art of Persuasion: Oral and Written Skills.”

Aabhash Parashar, Khadija Mirza, Alina Khan, Medha Chandra, me, Mridula Singh, Adeela Sidiqqui, Anugya Jha, gathering for pictures after the talk.

After enjoying wonderful India hospitality and the enthusiasm and participation and smart questions from the students, we celebrated with a delicious lunch.

My relationship with Jamia Millia students and the amazing journal they produce began in 2020, was the result of a colleague’s Fulbright Specialist grant, was strengthened 3 years later by my own Fulbright visit, and will continue when (hopefully) I attend some upcoming weddings. Fulbright squared!