Padmini Biswas

Padmini Biswas received her Ph.D. in urban planning from Columbia University, her master’s degree with distinction from the London School of Economics, a B.S. in civil engineering from the Cooper Union, and a B.A. in English from Vassar College. 

Dr. Biswas has held various leadership positions in the social justice space. She advanced diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within New York State government, directed an undergraduate human rights education program that took students to Nepal, Jordan and Chile to broaden their perspectives on activism, and served as the Assistant Director of the Center for Place, Culture and Politics at the CUNY Graduate Center. Dr. Biswas is the founding editor of SALT, a South Asian American community-based literary journal funded by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.  

Dr. Biswas is the Labor Studies Advisor and is currently designing a professional certificate in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to be offered through the Labor Studies program at Queens College.