UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi will be honored with the 2023 Immigrant Achievement Award from the American Immigration Council, a Washington-D.C.-based organization working to strengthen America through a more fair and just immigration system.
The Immigrant Achievement Award is presented each year to an individual or organization that exhibits a commitment and dedication to America’s heritage as a nation of immigrants and advocacy for humane immigration policy. Bendapudi will be presented with the award at the D.C. Immigrant Achievement Award Ceremony Reception on April 28 in Washington, D.C.
Past honorees include musician Carlos Santana, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Daniel Tsui, Secretary of State Colin Powell, U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, Cirque du Soleil, National Book Critics Award-winner Edwidge Danticat, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, and Washington Post Publisher Donald Graham.
“I am deeply honored to be named the recipient of this year’s Immigrant Achievement Award and equally humbled to be among such prestigious past honorees, each of whom reflects the importance and impact of immigration within our nation. The United States is a nation of immigrants, and I am merely one of many who have come to this country in search of America’s ‘golden door’ to opportunity and prosperity,” Bendapudi said.
“As the president of one of our nation’s renowned land-grant universities, I am committed to expanding access to the transformative power of higher education for all students who are ready to learn — including those who, like me, have come to this country to seek their degrees in the hopes of building a better life for themselves and a brighter future for their families. Immigration, truly, is a cornerstone of the American dream, and I am grateful to the American Immigration Council for its work to help make this dream a reality for immigrants from across the globe.”
Raised in India, Bendapudi earned her bachelor’s degree in English and her master’s degree in business administration from Andhra University before moving to the United States to pursue her doctoral studies in marketing at the University of Kansas, and to launch her career as an academic leader and educator. Before joining Penn State, she served as president of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, from 2018 to 2021. Under her leadership, the university recruited its largest and most diverse freshman class, reached record enrollment levels, improved four-year graduation rates, increased annual sponsored research, improved the university's financial stability, and stabilized its health system.
Since assuming the role as Penn State’s president, Bendapudi has focused on five major goals for the institution, including enhancing student success; growing the University’s interdisciplinary research excellence; increasing Penn State’s land-grant impact; fostering diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging; and transforming the University’s internal operations. She is guided by a commitment to academic preparedness that equips students for life-long professional and personal success; a dedication to fostering a sense of belonging for all members of the Penn State community; and a focus on access and affordability as a key component of the University’s land-grant mission.
“For nearly 30 years, Penn State President Dr. Neeli Bendapudi’s career in higher education has been committed to student success, fostering inclusive excellence, and creating opportunities for students, faculty and staff to thrive. She is a values-driven leader who believes strongly in the transformative power of higher education and its impact on individuals and communities,” said Jeremy Robbins, executive director of the American Immigration Council. “As an immigrant and trailblazer, she has spent years navigating the lack of diversity in leadership and the challenges confronting minority groups. This year we are thrilled to commemorate Dr. Bendapudi for embodying the diverse contributions generations of immigrants bring to this nation and as a testament to the enduring power of our country’s immigrant history.”
Bendapudi previously served as the founding director of the Initiative for Managing Services at Ohio State University, dean of the University of Kansas School of Business, and provost and executive vice chancellor of the University of Kansas. As an educator, she has taught marketing at the University of Louisville, University of Kansas, Texas A&M University and Ohio State. Her scholarly research has appeared in publications including the Journal of Academic Medicine, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Retailing and Journal of Service Research.
In addition to the Immigrant Achievement Award, Bendapudi’s awards and recognitions include the Academy of Marketing Science Outstanding Marketing Teacher Award and induction into the University of Kansas Women’s Hall of Fame. She has been named one of 25 women “who have made a difference in the academy” by Diverse Issues in Higher Education in 2021; one of a select group of women identified by Enterprising Woman who are “making a difference in business and community” in 2021; and one of the Louisville Business First’s “most admired CEOs” in 2020 for her leadership during a year of unprecedented challenges.