Brandeis appoints new Hindu advisor

Shrestha Singh will provide spiritual guidance to Dharmic students

Brandeis University has appointed Shrestha Singh, a recent graduate of Harvard Divinity School, as its new Hindu advisor.

In her new role, Singh will provide a focus for the Hindu community’s spiritual life on campus; she will lead Hindu festivals as well as talks on Hindu religion and tradition. She will support students of all Dharmic faiths and traditions and will coordinate the use of Brandeis’ Dharmic prayer center. She will guide students and other members of the campus community in ways of spiritual growth and provide support to students and staff and their families in times of personal crisis.

Singh is also the Hindu Chaplain at Wellesley College, where she has planned cultural events and facilitated conversations about race, class, gender and sexuality in the South Asian community, among other activities.

“Shrestha has an excellent understanding of the spiritual and cultural needs of students from all Dharmic traditions, and will be a great asset to our Department of Spiritual and Religious Life and the Multifaith Chaplaincy,” said Senior Vice President of Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel.

Singh, who hails from the Bay Area in California, earned her Master of Divinity from Harvard in May. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. She has served as a chaplain intern at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and was a member of the Racial Justice & Healing Initiative at Harvard, where she helped organize student and faculty support for discussions, forums and workshops around healing racial injustice through sharing stories and experiences. She lives in Arlington with her pit bull mix, George Clooney.

“I’m honored to have the chance to work with students at Brandeis. My passion is facilitating deep and reflective conversations at the intersections of spirituality and our work in the wider world. I’m also the child of immigrants, and am committed to working with students who are similarly navigating multiple cultures and identities, and hope to help their voices feel more heard on campus,” Singh said.