ANURAG GUPTA

School of Law

Juris Doctorate, May 2011

Bio and Resume (.pdf)

Anurag Gupta is a passionate advocate of social equality and international justice. He envisions a world where a child's family background is not determinative of the opportunities and lifestyle available to him/her. He is particularly interested in making quality education-one that imparts skills to think critically and independently-accessible to children in developing societies. Recognizing that education does not and cannot take place in isolation, he hopes to support and create entrepreneurial institutions that seek to remedy the economic, cultural, and structural conditions that distance children from learning so that they can become masters, and not remain victims, of their circumstances.

Born in India, Anurag was raised in New York City, and entered NYU's College of Arts and Science (CAS) with hopes of becoming a doctor. However, he quickly found his interests divert towards education equity and racial justice. As Teach For America's campus campaign manager, he gave numerous presentations to student and community members on America's educational inequities and tutored immigrant youth at The Door and South Asian Youth Action (SAYA!). He also spearheaded the student-led South Asian Studies Program Initiative (SASPI), which under his leadership successfully secured a South Asian Studies minor at CAS.

While in college, Anurag studied in Hyderabad, India, and Merida, Mexico, experiences that inspired him to use education as the cause to alleviate conditions of civil strife and intergenerational poverty trans-nationally. He graduated summa cum laude with a degree in International Relations and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. He was awarded the Faculty Memorial Award and the Elizabeth Claster Memorial Award for his active engagement with the campus community and commitment to public service.

Upon graduation, Anurag left to teach English in Gwangju, South Korea, on a Fulbright grant. While there, he founded Opening Possibilities Asia (OPA), a volunteer-led apolitical organization committed to creating educational and employment opportunities for marginalized youth and women in Burma. As OPA's Director, he has helped organize three annual Teacher Training Workshops for over thirty Burmese teachers, secured grants for educational resources and schooling of thirty-eight children affected by Cyclone Nargis, financed a school's infrastructural development and fostered ties between local community groups. He was recently awarded the IIE New Leaders Group Award for his work with OPA.

Challenged and humbled by his experiences in Burma, Anurag completed a master's degree in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge to get grounded in the inner workings of international development organizations and become familiar with the larger economic and political paradigms influencing them. Remaining true to his passion for international children's rights through creating entrepreneurial mechanisms for mass-access to quality education, he has embarked on that objective through his studies at the NYU School of Law and as a Reynolds Fellow.