Degrees: MS, 1994, Indiana St Univ Terre Haute; MFA, 1994, CUNY Brooklyn Coll; MA, 1990, Univ Delhi; BA, 1988, Univ Delhi

Bio:

Aashish Kumar, Associate Professor, has a B.A. and an M.A. in sociology from the University of Delhi, an M.S. in radio/TV/film from Indiana State University, and an M.F.A. in television production from the City University of New York, Brooklyn College. His teaching areas are documentary filmmaking, studio production and digital media production. Before coming to Hofstra, he taught at Framingham State College, Franklin Pierce College, and Southern Connecticut State University.

Aashish is also an independent media producer whose production portfolio consists of documentaries, programs for public broadcasting and fundraising videos for nonprofit organizations. His most recent work, Raising Our Voices,(2002) addresses hate-crime victims and has been screened at the Smithsonian, the Dallas Asian American Film Festival and over 100 academic institutions and community-based organizations. His previous documentary, Serial for Breakfast, was awarded Third Place in the Documentary category at the 1999 Broadcast Education Association convention. His reviews and research has been published in the Journal of Film and Video, Journal of Transnational Broadcasting, Feedback, and the Almanac of the International Council of NATAS.

His current research and practice is focused on engaging media production students in community advocacy issues. Towards this enterprise, he is working on setting up "Media Action Project, Hofstra," a University-based community media production entity. He is also in the process of raising grant money for two short video documentaries.

Aashish enjoys playing the guitar, watching movies, and doing backup vocals to his 5-year-old son singing "Space Truckin'."