About Me

Anu Mitra was Professor Emeritus at Union Institute & University, the original university without walls in the US. She served as a faculty in the Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies Program for a couple of decades, also facilitating their Museum Studies and Design Thinking Certificate programs. From 2019-24, she served as a Fulbright Specialist in Trinidad/Tobago. Her research centered around creating arts-based learning spaces in the heart of communities and in promoting understanding through a pedagogy of care. Anu has a MA and PhD from the University of Rochester. Her intensive training in museum studies and art history/interpretation continues at the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Contemporary Arts Center, and as co-chair of the Ohio Advisory Group of the National Museum for Women in the Arts. Additionally, Anu is on the National Advisory Board of the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, DC; the Program Support Committee of the Weston Art Gallery in Cincinnati; and Secretary and board member at the Bader + Simon arts organization, Cincinnati. Anu is the humble parent, along with her husband, of three adult children (and two children-in-law). Parenting and writing are the defining threads of Anu’s life.