Anurag Gupta Seeks to Make Education More Accessible

By Jason Hollander

As a freshman and sophomore, Anurag Gupta had taken half of his pre-med courses, including the biggest hurdles such as organic chemistry and molecular cell biology. He was prepared to cruise his last two years toward medical school.

But a College of Arts and Science (CAS) Scholars trip to Madrid in 2004, three days after the train bombings that shook all of Europe, inspired Gupta to rethink his future. While watching the citizens of Madrid band together amidst such tragedy, he realized that international relations was a subject that held more weight for him than medicine.

Gupta quickly switched gears back at school and declared two majors, international relations and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, while keeping minors in chemistry and biology. It proved to be a good move—the Forest Hills, Queens native went on to academic success, receiving the Elizabeth Claster Memorial Award, the Faculty Memorial Award, and the Gregory Legon Memorial Award, while becoming a resident assistant, president of the South Asian Studies Program Initiative (SASPI), campus campaign manager for Teach for America, and a member of the USA Today All-College Academic Team in 2005. He also received a Dean’s Undergraduate Research Fund grant to study the Hindi novelist Premchand.

Perhaps the accomplishment Gupta is most proud of is his work, as founder and president of SASPI, to help bring into existence a new minor in South Asian studies that will be offered at NYU beginning fall 2006. Gupta and several peers met with CAS Dean Matthew Santirocco and Humanities Dean Edward Sullivan as well as with numerous departmental faculty to promote this program, and they held events featuring South Asian academics, artists, and political theorists to raise awareness and interest at NYU in the issues of the region.

“We weren’t intimidated by the process,” says Gupta. “Everyone was so welcoming and supportive.”

Next up for Gupta will either be a job teaching general science in New York City through the Teach For America program, or going to South Korea to teach English on a Fulbright Scholarship, which he was recently awarded. Further down the road he plans to attend law school with the hopes of pursuing international development and education policy.

“In many countries education is only for the elite; it’s considered a privilege,” says Gupta. “I want to work to help make it both free and accessible.”