Ritu Saksena, PhD serves as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the College of Continuing and Professional Studies (CCAPS) at the University of Minnesota. In this role, she provides strategic leadership for the college’s diverse, market-responsive academic portfolio which include professional undergraduate and graduate degrees, certificates and minors designed to meet the current and emerging needs of students. Ritu is a thought leader on academic innovation and has led the development of several new professional degrees and certificates at the graduate level at CCAPS. She is committed to advancing curricular innovation through professional programs that leverage emerging trends in professional education and align with industry and workforce needs.
Prior to joining CCAPS, Ritu held positions in publishing, research, teaching as well as academic and leadership positions at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, University of Maryland, College Park and Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research and scholarship examines the symbiotic relationship between nationalism and violence through narratives of (anti)nationalisms that reimagine the nation through the reconfiguration of national subjectivities.
Education
- PhD Comparative Literature – University of Maryland, College Park
- MPhil. English – Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
- MA English – Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
- BA (Honors) English – University of New Delhi