Neeli Bendapudi is presently president of Penn State University.
Neeli Bendapudi, the first female president of Penn State University, was born and raised in India before relocating to the US to complete her doctoral studies.
Here are five points on Neeli Bendapudi:
- Indian-origin academic administrator Neeli Bendapudi is the first woman and the first person of colour to serve as Penn State's president, where she oversees the university's modern land-grant mission of teaching, research, and public service across 24 campuses and the online Penn State World Campus.
- Ms Bendapudi was born in Visakhapatnam and came to the US in 1986 for higher studies to launch her career as an academic leader and educator.
- She earned her bachelor's degree in English, her master of business administration degree from Andhra University in India, and her doctorate in marketing from the University of Kansas.
- With a nearly 32-year career in academia, she has taught marketing and served in a variety of administrative roles over the years, including as provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of Kansas, dean of the School of Business at the University of Kansas, and founding director of the Initiative for Managing Services at Ohio State University.
- Ms Bendapudi has previously held a number of notable positions in higher education. She also previously served as executive vice president and chief customer officer for Huntington National Bank.
