NCID-2826
Nadeeka Karunaratne
Postdoctoral Research Associate
University of Utah
Education/Degree:
1 Education Education Education Education (University of California, Los Angeles)
About
Nadeeka Karunaratne is a postdoctoral research associate in the McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention at the University of Utah. She also teaches as an adjunct faculty member in California Lutheran University’s Department of Counselor Education. In her research, she employs power-conscious frameworks to understand issues of campus sexual violence, focusing on interrupting harm and promoting healing for minoritized survivors. Nadeeka’s background in student affairs, specifically her work in campus cultural centers and with university violence prevention efforts, influences her scholarship and teaching. Nadeeka received her PhD in Higher Education and Organizational Change from UCLA and her MA in Student Affairs Administration from Michigan State University. She is also a trauma-informed yoga instructor and leads healing yoga programs on college campuses and in the community.
Current Work
Through her research, Dr. Nadeeka Karunaratne works toward a future where sexual violence is no longer perpetrated on college campuses. In this future, minoritized students who have experienced violence receive necessary, culturally relevant support from their institutions. Dr. Karunaratne promotes radical healing in her scholarship, through addressing harm for minoritized survivors and employing critical qualitative methodologies rooted in healing. Her current research with the McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention uses abolitionist frameworks that invite reimagining radical possibilities for violence prevention and response that center justice, accountability, and community. Dr. Karunaratne employed intersectionality in her previous research to explore the healing journeys of women and femme students of color who experienced dating violence during college. Her work has been funded by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.
Research Area Keyword(s)
sexual violence, intersectionality, healing