DNSI is very pleased to announce the addition of three individuals to its advisory board. We look forward to working closely with these very accomplished and dedicated individuals!

Anil Kalhan, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law
Anil Kalhan is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law. Before coming to Fordham, he was an Associate in Law at Columbia University School of Law, and he previously served as a litigation associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton and co-coordinator of the firm's immigration and international human rights pro bono practice group. He also has previously worked for the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project in New York and the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre in New Delhi, India, and served as law clerk to the Hon. Chester J. Straub (U.S. Ct. of App., 2d Cir.) and the Hon. Gerard E. Lynch (U.S. Dist. Ct., S.D.N.Y.). Before attending law school, he worked for Cable News Network, the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, and the New York City Department of Transportation. He received a J.D. from Yale Law School, an M.P.P.M. at the Yale School of Management, and an A.B. from Brown University. His areas of interest include immigration and citizenship, criminal law and procedure, international human rights, law of South Asia, and Asian Americans and the law.

Nitasha K. Sawhney, Attorney, Garcia Calderon Ruiz, LLP
Nitasha Sawhney is an attorney with the downtown Los Angeles law firm of Garcia Calderon Ruiz, LLC. Ms. Sawhney specializes in education, labor, and employment law matters. She also serves as a legal volunteer with the Sikh American Legal Defense & Education Fund (SALDEF) and the California Sikh Council where she assists with hate crime issues, employment discrimination, accommodation/access cases and increasing civic engagement. Ms. Sawhney also serves as a board member of the South Asian Bar Association’s Public Interest Foundation and is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s “Diversity in the Profession” Committee, the South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow (SAALT) Policy Task Force and served as Chair of California’s first Spinning Wheel Film Festival, a film festival focused on sharing stories through films created by Sikhs or about Sikhs.

She is a graduate of UC Berkeley where she studied Mass Communication and Ethnic Studies. She received her law degree from the UC Davis’ King Hall Law School. Ms. Sawhney was recently awarded the Spirit in Action Award from the Interfaith Councils of the City of Garden Grove, Stanton, and Westminster for her work in raising funds to aid victims of genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and her dedication to public service.

June Han, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Sociology, Harvard University
June Han is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. She is also a Doctoral Fellow in the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social Policy at the Kennedy School of Government. In the past, she was a Public Policy Fellow at the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, which is now known as the Asian American Justice Center.

June was the author of DNSI's first report, entitled "We Are Americans Too: A Comparative Study of the Effects of 9/11 on South Asian Communities." The report was based on a chapter from her dissertation, which examines identity, intergroup relations, and responses to 9/11 among South Asians in the Washington, DC area. Her general research interests include racial and ethnic identity, relations, and politics.

June will be receiving her Ph.D. in June 2007. She received an M.A. from Harvard University in 2001 and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1997.