Faculty Award

Pedro Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

Pedro Noguera is an urban sociologist whose scholarship and research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions in the urban environment.  He holds faculty appointments in the departments of Teaching and Learning and Humanities and Social Sciences at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Development, as well as in the Department of Sociology at New York University.  Dr. Noguera is also the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education and the co-Director of the Institute for the Study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings (IGEMS).  In 2008, he was appointed by the Governor of New York to serve on the State University of New York Board of Trustees.

Dr. Shankar Prasad, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Administration, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service

Shankar K. Prasad completed his PhD in Political Science from Brown University in 2006 with a focus on political learning within immigrant communities in the United States. As part of his doctoral work, Shankar conducted a national survey and numerous focus groups across the country to develop a detailed understanding of the process of partisan affiliation among newly entering communities. Shankar's dissertation "Red, Brown and Blue: The Political Behavior of Asian Indian Americans" analyzes the politicization of the Indian American community and suggests that religion is a primary factor in explaining the disproportionate association of this group with the Democratic Party. His dissertation has expanded to other research projects which focus on comparing the influence of religion on politics among Latinos, African Americans and other minority groups. He recently presented a paper at Columbia Law School on gendered perspectives on political learning and a book chapter on this subject is forthcoming. He is also currently working on publishing his dissertation.

While pursuing his academic interests, Shankar has also been actively involved in the private sector.  After completing his PhD, he worked in a hedge fund in New York City and in 2008 left the fund to co-found a health informatics company for which he currently serves as the Chief Marketing Officer and Director of US Operations. His company develops and implements customized, research-enabling software and database systems for dental and medical health centers in India, Africa, the Middle East and North America.  Currently, his company is the largest dental EMR in India.

Shankar also co-founded and serves as CEO of yourlist.org, an online platform to revolutionize the way we communicate with our government by making the political process more transparent and accountable.  Yourlist.org was alpha-launched last Spring, and has been selected for the semi-finals of the NYU Social Venture Entrepreneurship competition.

His research and teaching interests include immigration policy; intersections of race, religion and politics; the American Presidency; financial regulation; quantitative analysis; research design; and public policy. Shankar graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers College in 2002 with a BA (Honors) and BS (Honors) in Finance, Political Science and French.

Dr. Deirdre Royster, Associate Professor of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Science

Deirdre A. Royster joins the Department of Sociology and Wagner Graduate School of Public Service as an Associate Professor. She earned her B.S. in Sociology and Psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1987) and her M.A. and Ph. D. from Johns Hopkins University (1991, 1996). Previously, she taught at UMass-Amherst (1996-2001), where she was an award-winning teacher, and most recently at the College of William and Mary, where she chaired the Department of Sociology (2003-06) and directed the Center for the Study of Inequality (2004-08) and the Black Studies Program (2007-08).

Joseph M. Salvatore, Clincial Assistant Professor of Educational Theatre, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

Joe Salvatore is a playwright and director and has been on the faculty of the Program in Educational Theatre since Fall 2002.  He teaches courses in acting, directing, Shakespeare, applied theatre, new play development, and theatre pedagogy.  Since August 2005, Joe has also served as a Faculty Fellow in Residence in the Third Avenue North residence hall.  Recent original plays include open heart (FringeNYC 2010) and III (FringeNYC 2008-Overall Excellence Award for Outstanding Play).  Past directing projects for NYU include Plays from the Provincetown Players,The Class Project, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, As You Like It, Polaroid Stories, Cartographic Musings, Measure for Measure, Richard II, transfigured, Romeo and Juliet, Pericles, and 5 X Wilder: Plays from the Seven Deadly Sins Cycle by Thornton Wilder.

Joe serves as the Artistic/Education Director for Learning Stages, an award-winning youth theatre company in southern New Jersey.  He also regularly consults for YoungArts, the signature program of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. From 2003-2009 Joe served as the curriculum consultant for Dance Theater Workshop's schooltime series, creating curriculum guides for twenty dance and theatre productions, most of which were premieres.

Kim Taylor-Thompson, J.D.,  Professor of Clinical Law School of Law

Taylor-Thompson has recently returned from leave, having served for three years as the Chief Executive Officer of Duke Corporate Education, a global organization ranked by Financial Times as the #1 provider of customized executive education. In that role, she worked with Fortune 500 companies and governments in developed and emerging markets and taught in numerous programs focusing on translating and executing strategy, developing strategies to enter new markets and leading in complex environments.

Prior to joining New York University School of Law, she was an Associate Professor of Law at Stanford. When she joined Stanford’s faculty in 1991, she was the first woman of color hired on the tenure track. While at Stanford, Professor Taylor-Thompson received the John Hurlburt Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Outstanding Teaching Award. Since joining the School of Law, she has taught the Criminal and Community Defense Clinic, Criminal Law, and she has co-taught Criminal Litigation, Evidence: Litigation Planning and the Juvenile Rights Clinic. Through an interactive approach to teaching, she helps students bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Before entering academia, Taylor-Thompson spent a decade working in the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. While there, she held various supervisory positions, ultimately rising to the position of Director at the age of 32. For three years, she ran the office of 75 lawyers and 75 staff.