Bloustein School Professor Radha Jagannathan has been awarded the Rutgers Chancellor Award for Global Impact. This award is given to faculty members whose work in research, teaching, or service fosters global partnerships and generates significant global impacts.
The Rutgers’ 2024-25 Chancellor and Provost Awards for Faculty Excellence celebrate faculty achievements in innovative teaching, cross-disciplinary research, public engagement, impact, and service. Nominees are selected by their peers for their exceptional contributions.
Mark Robson, Distinguished Professor and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Rutgers University, nominated Dr. Jagannathan for this honor. “Dr. Jagannathan’s global work is significant, and she is the definition of Rutgers’ Jersey Roots, Global Reach motto,” he stated.
Dr. Jagannathan recently became director of the PASCAL Center for the Americas at Rutgers University. Her role involves promoting STEM learning from early childhood through higher education and providing policy guidance to improve educational outcomes for youth.
As PASCAL director, she plans to introduce Bloustein School students to international development perspectives through studies in countries such as Italy, Spain, the US, Finland, and Estonia.
“Her efforts have revolved around establishing collaborations on just about every continent,” said Dean Robson. He highlighted her role as principal architect in a European Commission-funded study on youth unemployment across 11 European countries that led to numerous peer-reviewed publications.
A fellow nominator praised Dr. Jagannathan’s involvement in the Cultural Pathways to Economic Self-Sufficiency and Entrepreneurship Europe project (CUPESSE), noting her ability to integrate diverse perspectives into her work.
In 2021, Dr. Jagannathan authored “The Growing Challenge of Youth Unemployment in Europe and America: A Cross-Cultural Perspective,” exploring solutions like American entrepreneurship models or German apprenticeships for high youth unemployment rates in Southern Europe.
She also co-authored "Caught in the Cultural Preference Net: Three Generations of Employment Choices in Six Capitalist Democracies" with Michael Camasso. The book investigates cultural attitudes toward employment across several nations including Germany and India.
Dr. Jagannathan's New Brunswick-based Nurture thru Nature program inspired similar initiatives abroad that support science education among youth in Italy and Spain.
Her collaborative projects extend to India where she worked with SRM Institute on youth employment and women's health issues. She has received Fulbright Scholarships for her seminars on policy analysis in Germany and Hungary as well as comparative research on public education conducted at Tampere University in Finland.
