Beyond the bubble: Dartmouth student involved in college, community and world affairs

Posted 01/04/01

When Ritika Nandkeolyar '01 received the Ranny B. Cardozo '78 Award-honoring her as "the most outstanding member of the junior class"-it was because she had floored the selection committee with all that she has done for Dartmouth. And her enthusiasm and interests-from government and international relations to public policy and history, human rights to journalism-continue unabated her senior year.

Born in Calcutta, India, Nandkeolyar lived in Bombay until age 10, when her family moved to Toronto. Having been an international student most of her school life, she has always kept a thoughtful eye to the world.

Her freshman year, Nandkeolyar became heavily involved in the Tucker Foundation, working alongside the volunteer coordinator. And with Sena Ku '01 Nandkeolyar created Tucker's Photo Community Project, documenting the Upper Valley through photography. But Tucker is only one of the groups that has benefited from Nandkeolyar's energy.

In addition to bolstering Dartmouth's Amnesty International chapter and the Dickey Center's World Affairs Council, Nandkeolyar devoted much of her first year to Agora, a group sponsored by the Rockefeller Center that holds weekly dinner meetings to discuss public policy issues. For two terms she served as Agora intern, choosing topics and training students to lead the discussions.

During her sophomore year, Nandkeolyar completed an independent study on the peasant revolt in Kenya known as Mau Mau. Her paper won the history department's Morton Award for the best paper of the year in non-Western history. The following winter, she completed a second independent study in the government department (her major) on state formations by anti-state organizations.

As a news editor for The Dartmouth, Nandkeolyar has interviewed the people who make headlines, including Jil Ker Conway, Ang Lee, East Timorese rebel leader Constancio Pinto and some of the presidential primary candidates.

"Hearing people's stories, you can't help but want to do something," she says. "The groups I'm involved in bring awareness of what goes on outside the 'Hanover bubble.' "

But what she ultimately wants to do is benefit her Indian homeland. "India has so many cultural landmarks in need of management and fundraising, and there's no heritage foundation to protect them," she says. In the short term, she looks toward consulting-"the nonprofit world appreciates business experience," she says-or a job with the United Nations. But Nandkeolyar already has a notebook filled with business plans: "I think big, and when I dream up big plans, I'm not willing to settle for less."