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Name: Devendra Sharma
Title: Professor
Department: Communication
Academic Degrees: Ph.D.

How long you have worked at Fresno State: Since August 2005

What is your most notable accomplishment in your field, and why was it important?: My most notable accomplishment in my field is to get renewed attention to how the popular and folk performance traditions can be used for positive social change and the empowerment of marginalized people. A few examples of this accomplishment are: (1) Recently (2022), I got the largest grant ever in the U.S. from Hewlett Foundation for creating a folk opera performance titled "Princess Nautanki." This opera focuses on women's empowerment in diverse cultural contexts. (2) In 2010, I was selected by the Alliance of California Traditional Arts as a master artist to train disciples in the traditional folk opera tradition of India, enabling them to revive this disappearing performance. (3) In 2007, I was the chief consultant for the United Nations Agency for HIV/AIDS in India to communicate the issue of HIV/AIDS in villages through the use of folk and traditional media. (4) Earlier I was the consultant to Johns Hopkins University's Center for Communication Program and the Indian government helping to create a massive performance project to communicate the issues of women's health and reproductive rights in India. This project culminated in 10,000 performances in as many villages.

Thus, using communication, particularly through performances, for community betterment has been my accomplishment.

What are you most passionate about in your field and why? The thing I am most passionate about in my field, i.e. "communication" is its ability to help people make their lives better by expressing themselves and connecting with others. This leads to the making of healthy communities. In other words, I love how effective communication can make people's lives happier!

What is a memorable moment you had at your job? When I took my graduate students to the West Fresno Boys and Girls Club to help kids fight obesity by creating awareness through a puppet performance. It was an eye-opener to see the poverty in the area, and it was heartwarming how parents and kids alike became our friends and received our messages openly. It was a testimony to the power of communication and performance.

What is a memorable moment you had in class, and what does that reveal about your teaching style? When a student called countries in South Asia "miserable" and "poor third world countries." Even though this remark upset me as I was born and grew up in India, I decided to turn this comment into a teaching moment. I invited that particular student and other students in the class to share what they knew about South Asia, whether they had actually traveled to these countries, and to explain what they meant by the term "third world countries" after the dissolution of the USSR. We also discussed if there were widespread problems in the U.S. such as poverty, homelessness, and drug misuse similar to the "Third World." Finally, we also thought about what "poor" means. Can it only be defined economically or can people be poor in terms of culture, empathy, and even civility? To many students, the discussion was revealing as they realized that many problems that they associate with the third world were present right here in Fresno, California. They also learned to be more sensitive to other cultures. Thus turning an insensitive remark into a thoughtful discussion enriched my class and defined my teaching style.

What do you like to do for fun in your spare time? I sing, act, read books, play with my kids, and watch streaming detective dramas for fun.

What is something interesting about you that most people don’t know? That my early childhood was spent in my ancestral village that literally could have belonged to 10,000 B.C. We had no running water, no electricity, and no roads. We used bullock carts to go to different places. My grandmother told me the time by looking at the position of stars in the sky, and I heard stories from my grandfather lying on a cot under the open sky while staring in wonder at the Milky Way above me. We ate grains and millets that belonged to the period before fertilizers hybrid seeds, and GMOs, and got our wonderfully tasty water from many deep wells around our village. I just loved my life in the village. We were a proud family of farmers.

Is there something else you would like to share that was not asked? An interesting trivia I want to share is that if a person walks straight (on the same latitude) toward east from Fresno, they would land in Northern India.