Planned Gift Honors Former EPPS Professor

Dr. Vibhooti Shukla worked as an economics and political policy professor at the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences from 1987 until her death in 1992. In her memory, her husband, Dr. Satchit Srinivasan, established the Vibhooti Shukla Graduate Fellowship and the Vibhooti Shukla Professorship of Economics and Political Economy at The University of Texas at Dallas.

Shukla’s dedication to UT Dallas inspired Srinivasan to honor her legacy through a $1 million planned gift. He wanted students and faculty who shared her passion for urban economics to have funding for their research.

“The students loved her, and she loved them,” Srinivasan said. “She had high ratings as a professor and was incredibly appreciated as somebody who cared about her students. Beyond the classroom, too, she loved her job. I would watch her go two or three days straight on the computer with these enormous spreadsheets filled with different datasets, and she would be singing. It was fun for her.”

Srinivasan’s main objective has ultimately been to keep his wife’s memory alive.

“She was an only child — so after I am gone, there will be no family left who knew her,” Srinivasan said. “I think she was exceptional, and I don’t want there to be a world where nobody knows she was born.”