Meet Our New Student Welfare Officer | Sunita Prabhu
October 1, 2022
We extend a warm welcome to Ms. Sunita Prabhu who joins us as our new Student Welfare Officer. Sunita is a counselor and a humanistic psychotherapist with a strong administrative background. She brings more than 18 years of work experience, having worked exclusively in the field of education. She joins us from Yenepoya University, Mangalore, where she was working as Student Welfare Officer for nearly six years.
Sunita believes in the holistic development of young adults and her constant endeavour has been to create a space that will produce well-rounded and well-adjusted young adults. At NLSIU, she looks forward to implementing the vision and mission of the University, and doing work that is meaningful and relevant to students and other stakeholders. In her role as Student Welfare Officer, Sunita will work with the student body and the Residential Life team.
In this interview, she tells us more about her work and her interests.
1. Tell us more about yourself, your background, and your interests.
I am from the coastal city of Mangalore. However, I was born in Bombay and was educated in Bombay & Goa. I am a Zoology graduate from Bombay University who took up counselling as a conscious career choice in 2007, when I realised that the advice I was giving seemed to help the people who approached me with their issues. Around the same time, I decided to pursue an MSc in Psychotherapy & Counselling from the Institute of Psychotherapy and Management Sciences, Mumbai.
Apart from my professional interests, I am also very interested in music and love almost all genres of music, both Indian & western, vocal and instrumental. My playlist is very varied and I had one for every mood, way before it was fashionable to do so! The other thing that I absolutely love to do is read. Though it may sound cliche, Ayn Rand is the one author who captured and sustained my interest all through these years, and the books have been lovingly dog-eared over time. This interest has sustained since my teenage years, and despite multiple readings. It would not be amiss to say that books have been an important part of me being the way I am today.
2. Tell us about your work experience in the field of education and student welfare so far. What made you transition from counselling to student welfare?
I was a pretty late entrant into the world of work starting off only in 2004, as an administrator in a private nursing College in Mangalore, when my son entered Pre-University. I then went on to being an administrator in another private institute running nursing and physiotherapy courses. It was in this institute where my interest in counselling was aroused, and I decided to formalise my education and go in for a formal counselling and psychotherapy training. And counselling is also a very vital aspect of student welfare.
In January 2017, I was offered a position in Yenepoya (Deemed to be University) as a Student Welfare Officer and that is how I made the switch from office administration and part-time counselling, to counselling and part-time administration. I believe a Student Welfare Officer’s job profile warrants strengths across both these domains.
4. How do you think SWOs can make a difference to any educational institution
SWOs are that vital bridge that connect the academic and non-academic aspects of a University for the students, and also make life much easier for all concerned. A SWO will take cognisance of every aspect of the student life in the University, which include interactions on a one-on-one basis. SWOs teach students many aspects of campus life and how to navigate them with efficiency and safety. I firmly believe that every University invested in the holistic welfare of its students should have a SWO. To quote one of my former students, “SWOs are the teachers who teach without having to resort to books!”
5. What do you look forward to at NLS?
Personally, I feel that there is nothing more fulfilling than looking after the students and their interests holistically . My students drive me and my passion for my work somehow gets through to them, even though there may be a difference of more than a couple of generations between us . I have ended up becoming great friends with students who sought my assistance on any issue, no matter how big or small. I hope to continue my journey in the same vein at NLSIU, and look forward to many, many discussions, debates, and strong opinions from the students here (which I’m sure will be there). I am excited about my new innings here and hopefully the students will be as excited to work with me.
Please reach out to Sunita for all aspects pertaining to Student Welfare at