Alumni Spotlight

Holding High Expectations

UNC Trustee Shashwata Prateek Dutta BS 08, EdLD, believes in the importance of education as a driver of social mobility — something he’s experienced in his own journey to success. 

It was 2008, three years after Hurricane Katrina’s waters reshaped the city of New Orleans. Prateek Dutta刚刚从北科罗拉多大学毕业 with a degree in Political Science, joined Teach for America, and was facing a classroom of sixth graders. 他是在穿越了一段漫长的旅程后来到那间教室的 有一种理解和想要有所作为的教育体系. 

Teach for America focuses on educational equity with a cadre of leaders who commit to teaching for two years.   

He and his colleagues worked hard to instill in students the importance of college but found that while many students went on to attend, many didn’t, and that was something he wanted to change.  

“I’m passionate about college as a means to the end goal of empowering people and 确保他们有工具爬上经济阶梯. I feel education is 最好的方法，或者说最快的方法.” 

这是一个根植于他生活经历的信念.  

杜塔的父母在东巴基斯坦长大，也就是现在的孟加拉国. “At that time, 联合国称其为世界上最贫穷的地方，”杜塔说. “My dad’s 我的梦想是来美国学习，这就是我的梦想. He got a 学生签证去波士顿上学.”  

His father brought his mother to Boston, and Dutta and his sister were born there. His father, who’d earned his PhD in Economics, was working as a professor, but language 障碍成了教学的障碍. 没有工作，也付不起账单， 这家人做出了离开美国的痛苦决定.S. and move to Kolkata, India, 他们一直待到杜塔八岁.  

“At that time, my parents decided they wanted to give the American dream one more chance. 所以，他们基本上看了看美国地图，然后说，‘科罗拉多 looks like a place for a fresh start.“他们拿了两个手提箱，换了货币 卢比换成了大约40美元——然后来到了丹佛，”杜塔说. 

Because he didn’t speak English, Dutta was placed in an English as a Second Language (ESL)教室，大多数学生说西班牙语. “老师们很难互动 和我一起
度过了我小学和中学的大部分时光，”
他回忆道.  

Gaps in learning became chasms. 到了高中，他在学业上远远落后了 他知道这样的成绩是不可能进入四年制大学的. He started 申请社区大学，但他说博天堂官方是他梦寐以求的学校.  

“I met with (UNC’s) director of admissions and he told me my grades and test scores 虽然没成功，但他们会尽力的.”  

杜塔提出了申请，并以参加暑期班为条件被录取.  

“UNC was the only university that took a chance on me, and so I am eternally grateful. It changed the trajectory of my life because without being accepted into UNC, I honestly 我不知道我会怎么做，”他说. 

去北卡大学只是战斗的一部分.  

“I was so far behind. 每件事对我来说都花了太多时间. It’s not a sob story at all, just the reality. 整个校园里我最喜欢的地方是米切纳图书馆. I loved it. 我经常去星巴克，喝一大杯咖啡，从
七点开始.m. 我每天晚上都待在图书馆里学习到半夜.” 

Dutta says UNC faculty trustee and Professor 
of History Fritz Fischer helped him succeed. 

“他是我生命中不可思议的力量. 他让教学变得有趣而迷人，而我 我想我申请“为美国而教”的原因之一就是因为他的课. I was in his class on the Vietnam War, and I remember thinking ‘how can he make something so complicated, so engaging?’”  

At the time, Dutta wasn’t sure what he wanted his career to be, but based on his experience in school, he knew he wanted to help students who were overlooked or marginalized.  

“I applied to Teach for America and I got accepted, and then I was placed in New Orleans. That’s how I got started teaching.” 

In New Orleans, Dutta began to feel his efforts were bringing change for the short term, but not for the long term, and as much as he loved working with the students 在那里，他决定让自己的教育更进一步.  

“I realized no matter how much work I did in the classroom, there were some other 强大的社会力量让学生们走上了不同的道路. I realized I needed more skills and a better understanding of policy and politics to really make a difference. That’s why I went to grad school.” 

He was accepted into a doctoral program at Harvard University focusing on Educational leadership.  

“I honestly struggled to graduate high school 10 years before I got accepted to Harvard. 所以很明显有很多感觉，‘我属于这里吗?’ I did well there, but I didn’t like it as much as UNC. 我从未感受到北卡大学带给我的那种家的感觉. I got my degree and I’m happy I got it, but to compare that to my UNC experience is just night and day,” Dutta says. “我会让我们北卡大学的教授和学生反对 哈佛的学生和教职员工每天都可以. But without question, I had a better 我在博天堂官方的经历比我在哈佛大学的经历要多.” 

He completed his doctorate, and felt that instead of working within the system, he 能在体制外做更多的事，倡导变革吗. He returned to Denver and 成为科罗拉多州教育改革民主党的政策主任，. 

“Democrats for Education Reform was created because the Democratic party has historically been pushing for equity on a whole host of issues, but when it comes to education, 有时，该党为现状辩护. Our organization works to move both politics and policy forward to ensure all students receive a high-quality education.”  

For Dutta, his years as a student, a teacher and an advocate have shown him the importance of having 
high expectations.  

“I know what it feels like when teachers and schools have low expectations for certain groups of students. 当你用高标准要求学生时，他们总是会达到要求的 them.” 

他断言，低期望值是一种隐蔽的种族主义. The positive impact of holding students to high expectations is something he saw first-hand as a teacher working with low-income students in New Orleans as they coped with significant hardships 在卡特里娜飓风的余波中. 当被寄予很高的期望时，他们成功了.  
 The opportunity to succeed in school did not come to Dutta until he became a student at UNC, and he brings that experience — coupled with teaching, graduate work, and 他在DFER的工作——在博天堂官方的新角色.  

In January 2020, Colorado Governor Jared Polis appointed Dutta to a three-year term as a trustee at UNC. 他对高等教育不公平的问题感到担忧 除了关注K-12教育之外. 

“高等教育并不能摆脱不平等. 我们已经做得很好了 全国的高中辍学率. 但我们没有做的是减少 college dropouts. 大多数低收入家庭的学生进入大学后都会辍学; 大多数上大学的黑人和拉丁裔学生都辍学了. And 他们辍学后除了债务什么都没有. It’s unacceptable. And we need to do something about that. 所有高等教育机构，包括博天堂官方 says. 

As a trustee, he sees UNC facing multiple challenges — including student retention and graduation rates. 虽然他对学生有很高的期望，但他也 对他的母校及其应对这些挑战的能力寄予厚望. 

“We must increase our enrollment and retention while closing the attainment equity gap in graduation and retention. Our new strategic plan — Rowing, Not Drifting -就如何克服这些挑战并使UNC更加强大制定路线图. Most importantly, the strategic plan ensures our university is more student-centered and 是否有一个更连贯的学生支持系统?. “I think we have a great opportunity to take students that might come from underprivileged backgrounds and really propel them into the middle and upper class. 博天堂官方的使命，我想说，就是成为一个引擎 of equity. 真正成为社会流动性的推动者.”

–Debbie Pitner Moors