Starting this fall, CUNY SLU will have another long-time social justice leader in its ranks: Deepak Bhargava has been appointed to serve as Distinguished Lecturer of Urban Studies, filling one of the school’s rotating Distinguished Lecturer positions.

Mr. Bhargava brings more than 25 years of experience in public policy, campaign building, social justice advocacy, and non-profit management. For 16 years, he served as President and Executive Director of the Center for Community Change, one of the country’s pre-eminent centers for grassroots community organizing in low-income communities of color. 

“I am incredibly excited to work with the CUNY SLU students and faculty,” said Mr. Bhargava. “This is a community that is deeply committed to labor rights and community issues, and it is an honor to be able to learn from and work with such talented and committed people. As a long-time non-profit leader and social justice campaigner, I look forward to contributing to this growing community of thinkers and doers, and to helping to develop the people and ideas that will power a new era of social change.”

As a frontline activist, Mr. Bhargava has played a major role in several national efforts to bring about change through collective action. He has strengthened the field of community organizing in the U.S., nurtured the modern immigrant rights movement; helped launch national coalitions to fight for health care reform, reduce poverty and advance immigrant rights; and trained thousands of young leaders and activists.

 “Deepak Bhargava brings an immense amount of knowledge and real-world practice to the classroom,” explains SLU Founding Dean Gregory Mantsios. “His commitment to uplifting underserved communities exemplifies the CUNY SLU belief that with concerted efforts we can make our City, State and nation a better place for all.”

Mr.  Bhargava currently serves on the boards of the Open Society Foundations (US), JPB Foundation, Bauman Foundation, as well as the editorial board of The Nation magazine. He has written extensively about community organizing, public policy related to poverty and economic justice, progressive strategy, civic engagement and racial justice among many other topics. 

This coming semester, Mr. Bhargava will lecture both at the graduate and undergraduate levels, teaching courses in “Public Issues” and “Social and Economic Policy in the U.S.”

“We are thrilled to have Mr. Bhargava join the SLU faculty,” explains Urban Studies Department Chair Steve London. “Our students will greatly benefit from his years of social justice advocacy, activism, policy expertise, and experience in campaign building and grassroots organizing.  Our faculty looks forward to collaborating with Mr. Bhargava on important research topics such as immigrant rights, and I have no doubt that his contributions to the SLU community will help us fulfill our social justice and workers’ rights mission.”