Srikant Datar, who became the 11th dean of Harvard Business School on 1st January 2021 is one of the recipients of the Padma Awards in 2021. He has been bestowed with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian awards in India. Along with him, two other Indian Americans have been awarded the prestigious Padma awards.
Narinder Singh Kapany, known as the ‘father of fiber optics’, will be given the Padma Vibhushan posthumously. He passed away in December 2020 in the US. Ratan Lal, a citizen of US of Indian descent, is professor of soil science at the Ohio State University and has been awarded the Padma Shri.
Datar, during his tenure, has served as Senior Associate Dean for University Affairs (including Faculty Chair of the Harvard Innovation Lab), for Research, for Executive Education, for Faculty Development, and for Faculty Recruiting as per the Harvard profile.
He has graduated from University of Bombay and also received gold medals upon completing his post-graduation from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India. He is also a Chartered Accountant and holds two Masters degree and a PhD from Stanford University.
Earlier, former NDTV employee Nidhi Razdan had claimed she was going to be an Associate Professor at Harvard University to teach journalism. However, she later claimed she was a victim of phishing attack and the job offer was not real. Razdan is daughter of former Editor-in-Chief of news agency Press Trust of India (PTI), Maharaj Krishan Razdan. She graduated from Delhi University and did a post-graduation course in mass communication from Indian Institute of Mass Communications, Delhi.