Rachel Ball-Phillips

Rachel Ball-Phillips received her Ph.D. in South Asian History from Boston College in 2015, and conducted language study and research through multiple American Institute of Indian Studies language grants, a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, and a Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy Fellowship. She currently teaches South Asian history courses at SMU that include the Civilization of India, On the Edges of Empire, Human Rights in Modern South Asia, and Bollywood. She was recently awarded a Manodharma Faculty Travel Grant to set up internship opportunities for SMU students in India. Ball-Phillips is currently completing her manuscript on regional Marathi cinema titled Shaping the Marathi Imagination: Film and Regionalism in Western India, and has started preliminary work on her next project (a joint documentary and book project) titled Hare Krishnas in Longhorn Country: An Oral History of Devotees in Dallas.

Dr. Ball-Phillips is the Director of National Student Fellowships and the President’s Scholars at SMU. She also serves as the Education Director for the Fulbright Association Dallas Chapter where she is piloting a Fulbright-in-the-Classroom program.