Dr. Neeraja Aravamudan has lived in the midwest most of her life, after immigrating from India with her family as a child. She earned her PhD in Sociology from Northwestern University and has worked in higher education administration for over 20 years. She is the Director of University of Michigan's Ginsberg Center, a civic and community engagement center that supports equitable partnerships communities in Southeast Michigan and the U-M to advance social change for the public good. Neeraja provides strategic leadership to the Ginsberg Center, ensures alignment between our values and work at the Center and across U-M, and works to reduce barriers and challenges to equitable partnerships between students, faculty, and community partners. She also leads strategy and implementation for the academic, peer-reviewed Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, published by the Ginsberg Center. Neeraja serves on Campus Compact’s leadership team for community engagement centers based at research universities across the United States. 

Prior to joining University of Michigan, Dr. Aravamudan led graduate student development efforts at Northwestern University's teaching center.  Outside of work,  she serves on the Boards of the International House of Ann Arbor and the national organization, Desi Rainbow Parents & Allies. She is active in her neighborhood and school communities, enjoys singing, DIY projects, and playing board games with her family which includes her three inquisitive children and partner of 20 years. 

As a coach, Neeraja helps clients identify and align their values and actions and to find purpose rooted in their own personal power and strengths. She works with clients to unearth assumptions that can help shift their perspective and interrupt unexamined habits. Her coaching strengths include deep empathy, emotional and intellectual curiosity, and identifying root causes of behaviors.  She supports clients to not just fit into the world we have but help identify ways to transform themselves and their organizations to create the world we want.