Harita Patel

Harita Patel is serving as coordinator for the Office for Multi-ethnic Student Education (OMSE). She is currently leading the OMSE team to complete their End-of-Year assessment project, and lending support to senior staff in program development. Harita has over 8 years of experience in student development, teaching, and academia at the post-secondary level. She has worked in a variety of positions in higher education including with undergraduate advising, instruction, and administration. She is passionate about supporting underserved populations and facilitating dialogue between students and administration to foster diverse and inclusive educational environments for today’s students.

She has completed two graduate degrees in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is currently ABD. Her graduate research is on critical approaches to international development and research methodologies, emphasizing interdisciplinarity. She has prior publications on the subjects of identity-based conflict resolution and theories of democratization. When she is not working at OMSE, Harita is an artist that specializes in large-scale watercolor paintings which focus on themes in nature and the reconceptualizing the meaning of ‘failure.’ She has traveled extensively throughout the world and loves spending time in nature.