Student - College of Education

Savneet Bains is a Doctoral student in The Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at UT Austin. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce with Honors, an MBA in Finance and Marketing, and a UCLA certification in Global Career Counseling. She has 9+ years of work experience in Academia, Entrepreneurship, and Corporate settings. Before joining the UT Austin community, she worked as a high school Career Counselor in India for 3 years. Prior to that she worked in domains of banking, aviation finance, project and people management, research and data analysis. Savneet is currently working as a Graduate Assistant in the Department of Residence Life with Living & Learning Communities (LLCs) & Academic Initiatives. Savneet is a result oriented and relationship driven professional with a passion for lifelong learning and commitment to student learning & development.

Savneet is a NASPA Region 3 board member, and serves as the Co-graduate student representative for the region. She has presented at National and Regional conferences on equitable hiring practices, intersectional identities of women of color, and strategies of navigating a PhD program.

Her experiences have led her research interests towards identifying the challenges faced by South Asian women in their career advancement to senior leadership roles within academia.

Identifying the barriers and facilitators for women of color within academic leadership, with a focus on South Asian women leaders. She aims at highlighting the leadership journey of South Asian women leaders in higher education administration.

Marilyn C Kameen (Supervisor)
Interests include academic administration, faculty in higher education, and college student development with research on college teaching and minorities in higher education.

Co-graduate student representative, NASPA, (2022 - 2024)

Women of Color Navigating Cultural Chaos: Creating Communities of Care in Academic and Professional Spaces, NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators) Annual Conference, Seattle, WA (2024)

Walk the Talk: An equitable & inclusive recruitment process, Big 12 Conference & Professional Development Day (PDD) Conference, Austin, TX (2023)

Intersectional Experiences of Women of Color in Professional Degrees and Leadership Roles, NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators) Annual Conference, Boston, MA (2023)

Reimagining Experiences of People of Color in Doctoral / Professional Degrees, SACSA (Southern Association for College Student Affairs) Conference, Atlanta, GA (2023)

Walk The Walk: An equitable & inclusive recruitment process, Texas Association of College and University Student Personnel Administrators (TACUSPA), Austin, TX (2022)

Asian American Women Underrepresented in Academic Leadership, Texas Association of College and University Student Personnel Administrators (TACUSPA), Austin, TX (2022)