Academic and Research Programs

Our student exchange programs strengthen U.S.-India connections and promote culturally competent students and leaders from both nations.

Our exchange programs include:

• Indian Law and Legal Institutions: Artificial Intelligence and Access to Justice (1 credit), Professor LeighAnne Thompson

  For this course, Seattle University J.D. students will travel to New Delhi, India where they will take classes at our partner institution, Jindal Global Law School during the Spring Break of 2025. The course will use a comparative framework to explore how the Indian legal system compares to the U.S. legal system with respect to the ethical use of AI in the practice of law, and AI’s potential to expand access to justice. Through this lens, students will learn various areas of Indian law and Indian legal history and learn about how Indian legal institutions function. In addition to classroom instruction, students will visit Indian courts and historical monuments and other relevant places around New Delhi and Agra. Students will submit a 10-to-15-page reflection paper on the topic of ethical AI and access to justice no later than three weeks after returning to Seattle.  Course is open to J.D. students second year or above. 

• AI, Law, and Technology
  
  In July 2025, Seattle University Law School will host 30 students from Jindal Global Law School for a short course on "AI, Law, and Technology."

The Raman Family Faculty Research Grants, named in honor of a generous gift from Suri and Mala Raman, advances scholarship on contemporary India and/or the Indian Diaspora in all academic disciplines. The funds are designed to support seasoned scholars of South Asian Studies while encouraging new faculty to expand their research into topics relevant to India. This work fosters a deeper understanding of the contributions of India and the diaspora to the global stage.

| 2025 AWARDS |

• Tapoja Chaudhuri, Anthropology | Environmental anthropologist Tapoja Chaudhuri will extend her qualitative research on climate change and philanthropy beyond the PNW to interview diasporic activists and non-profit volunteers engaged in climate-impacted communities in India.
• Rebecca Cobb, Couples and Family Therapy | Clinical Professor Becky Cobb will co-edit the third edition of one of the foundational textbooks in marriage and family therapy and will use these funds to explore how to apply the approaches in the book in a culturally attuned way.
• Nalini Iyer, English | The funds support international travel for South Asian literary scholar Nalini Iyer to moderate two panels on intersectionality in South Asian diasporic writing at the European Conference on South Asian Studies in Heidelberg, Germany. The papers presented on these panels will likely form the core of a book to be published with Routledge India on South Asian Literature.
• Sonora Jha, Communications | 2024 WA State Book Award Fiction Prize Winner Sonora Jha will do research to revise and support the 2026 U.S. edition of her novel Foreign (first published in 2013 by Random House India). 
• Meenakshi Rishi, Economics | Rishi will use the funds for domestic travel within India to collaborate with Ruchira Sen, Associate Professor of Economics at Jindal Global University, on a new line of research on women’s participation in the Indian labor force.
• Annette Thomas, Nursing | A team of nursing faculty members, including clinical professor Thomas, will develop a global health immersion program in India.

| 2024 AWARDS |

Watch the event recording of the Faculty Research Symposium to learn more about these projects.

• Tapoja Chaudhuri, Anthropology | Climate Change and Philanthropy: A focus on the Indian diaspora in the PNW
• Rashmi Chordiya, Public Affairs and Nonprofit Leadership | Liberatory Public Service in Action: Case Studies from the United States and India
• Rebecca Cobb, Couples and Family Therapy | Moksha Patam: Adaptation of an Ancient Indian Game for Culturally Relevant Teletherapy Intervention
• Mathew Isaac, Marketing | Cherished Numbers: Do Preferred or Auspicious Numerical Values Influence
  Marketplace Judgments in the U.S. and India?
• Sonora Jha, Communication | Intersections of Caste, Disability, and the Female Body in India
• Meenakshi Rishi, Economics | Keynote Lecture at Global Finance Conclave at Jindal Global University

Despite constitutional guarantees, Indian women from marginalized backgrounds encounter significant barriers in accessing justice due to factors like violence, economic inequality, and access to legal resources. The Access to Justice project—led by an interdisciplinary team from Jindal Global University’s Centre for Justice, Law & Society and Seattle University’s Roundglass India Center—aims to address these issues in the Mohali district of Punjab.

The project is unique in its focus on women and the intersectional identities that make up their lived experience including religion, caste, class, sexuality, and ethnicity. The project ambitiously aims to “map out” participants’ experiences by neighborhood, community, and geographic location to identify similarities and differences. The project endeavors to go beyond simply identifying obstacles to women’s access to justice to also develop practical, actionable solutions for meaningful change.