“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” ― Aristotle

Prof. Sandra Joseph is the first lay person to be appointed as the Principal of Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi and has held the post as member of the Academic Council, University of Delhi. Prior to joining Jesus and Mary College, she was the Vice Principal of Stella Maris College (Autonomous), Chennai and previously held responsibilities as Internal Quality Assurance Cell Coordinator as well as the Head of the Postgraduate Department of Social Work.

She has more than 30 years’ of work experience of nurturing and developing young women leaders in academia. She has guided several research studies at the MA, M. Phil and PhD levels and has to her credit a number of publications both International and National. She is also an editorial member for international refereed journals and has been acknowledged with several accolades and awards as a distinguished academician.

In collaboration with the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU) since 1998, she has completed four major cross cultural research studies. Prof Sandra has served as a member on several Boards of Studies in the University of Madras. She also serves as an advisor to several NGO’s. She is on the national board of Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) New Delhi, Indo Global Social Service Society, (IGSSS) New Delhi, and served on the regional governing body of CARITAS India. She currently serves as the President of the Northern Region for Xavier Board of Higher Education in India and All India Association of Christian Higher Education in India (AIACHE).

Prof Sandra has recently contributed on Christianity in India which was part of the Encyclopedia of Indian Religions Series, published by Springer in 2023. More recently she has co-edited our very own JMC publication titled Pandemic Perspectives: Praxis, Policy and Pedagogies, published by Routledge in the 2024. This initiative was key to creating space and opportunities, encouraging research rigour among faculty and students of the institution.

Her contribution over the years as an educator, practitioner and researcher has been in domains of gender, education, health and development practice. Her over 30 years of teaching and administrative experience both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels has made her a recognizable name and an expert in teaching, learning and research in the field of Higher Education.