For many, education is a vehicle to new worlds. Wayne State College economics Professor Dr. Meenakshi Dalal has experienced these open doors of education first hand.

Dalal was born and raised in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. In her home country, education was viewed very highly. Though many people desired education, very few were fortunate to have access to it.

“My mom and dad always wanted me to go to school, and they both had to work very hard,” Dalal said. “We didn’t have a telephone, radio or a clock, but I never went hungry.”

Although it was a struggle to obtain her education in India, she wouldn’t have had any opportunity in her country’s previous system.

Historically, India’s education system was very limited. As a result of the caste system, only a select group of people had access to any sort of education.

“It used to be that education wasn’t for everybody. It was limited to princes and philosophers and those kinds of people of the upper caste,” Dalal said. “It was the British who established it.”

Dalal said the system is now beginning to gravitate toward a more Americanized system. She had 11 years of school before taking a secondary exam that determined where she would be placed in the college system.

“I think I had a very well-rounded education in India,” Dalal said.

Due to her parents’ tireless efforts, Dalal finished her undergraduate accounting degree at Calcutta University while working full time.

“I saw how hard my dad was working, so I worked and then brought home money to my family,” Dalal said.

When she was 21 years old, Dalal was married and she and her husband moved to Boston, which was only the beginning of her educational journey. She studied in Boston and then in California before returning to Boston and obtaining a Ph.D. Then, Dalal was offered a tenured position at Wayne State College.

“Coming to the Midwest I got to know real American people,” Dalal said. “In Boston, I mostly socialized with other Bengali people. But here, I have a handful of very good friends who have stood by me through many struggles.”

In addition to teaching economics, Dalal involves herself on campus by sharing her culture and participating in diversity events. She is also a member of the President’s Council for Diversity. In the past, she has shared a celebration of the Goddess Swarasti (Goddess of Learning), a goddess who is collectively worshipped throughout India.

Recently, Dalal participated in the Interfaith Action Group’s third annual Religion Panel, where she shared with students about Hinduism.

“I relive my culture by sharing my culture,” Dalal said. “I have always been a free spirit and do my own thing.”

Now, after 32 years of teaching at WSC, Dalal is retiring.

“I still want to hang around Wayne State College after I retire. I will go to the library and write my background story for my two grandchildren,” Dalal said.

“This is the place I have spent most of my life now. Nebraska has grown on me; I raised my two kids here. I love the big sky and the rolling hills.”