Smitha Rao. Courtesy photo.
Smitha Rao, a researcher who examines how communities experience and respond to environmental challenges, has built her career around a simple but ambitious philosophy: ensuring that the people most affected by extreme weather, air pollution, climate change, and other ecological issues have a voice in addressing them.
“The big hope driving my work is that no one should be left unheard, or behind, and that we can work toward a world where all beings we share this planet with deserve equal consideration,” said Rao, who graduated from the doctoral program at the Boston College School of Social Work in 2021 and now serves as an associate professor at The Ohio State University College of Social Work. “It’s the hope of many lifetimes but that’s what keeps one going.”
Her dedication to centering the voices of communities she works with aligns with BCSSW’s ongoing theme of “Accompaniment in Action,” which emphasizes walking alongside others, sharing their burdens and hopes, and staying present as long as needed.
She will be honored for her work on October 26 at BCSSW’s Accompaniment in Action Lecture & Distinguished Alumni Awards Celebration, where she will receive the School’s Distinguished Recent Alumni Award.
Rao credited her experience at BCSSW with helping her build a career rooted in radical kinship, or standing with people on the edges of society rather than trying to "fix" them from a distance—one of the hallmarks of accompaniment.
In particular, she pointed to her academic advisor at BCSSW, Professor Shanta Pandey, whose research, mentorship, and teaching helped shape her into the scholar she is today.
“I, like many, have learned to model my work, research, and teaching based on these learnings,” said Rao. “I’ve often said that if I can be a fraction of what she has been to me with my students, I would consider myself a success.”
We caught up with Rao to learn more about her research, her commitment to accompaniment, and how that approach shapes her work.
First of all, congratulations on being selected to receive the 2026 Distinguished Recent Alumni Award. What does this award mean to you?
This is a wonderful honor and was a complete surprise. I have a lot of gratitude. My journey to being an academic has not been traditional and I came to academia quite late in my life. It was happenstance when I reached out to Dean Yadama after having followed his work for a very long time and he encouraged me to apply to the program and connected me to potential mentors.
I love what I do today and my time at BCSSW was critical in offering me the space to bring and build on my experience while investing in my learning to grow into a community engaged scholar committed to robust research, all while staying true to the “why" of what we do as social workers.
BCSSW Professor Shanta Pandey nominated you for this award. How would you describe the impact she’s had on your career?
I have been extremely fortunate in life to have had phenomenal mentors who have provided guidance and support in very important moments and crucial junctures. Professor Pandey was my academic advisor when I was a doctoral student. I was her teaching assistant right from year one and saw the passion and rigor she brought to the classroom; I learned so much in that role. She was also my dissertation co-chair (along with Associate Professor Samantha Texeira), chair of my qualifying-exam, and overall, one of the most wonderful scholars and mentors I have had the fortune to work with and learn from. I know I am not alone in saying that Professor Pandey is devoted to student success; she has steadfastly committed time, effort, and intellectual heft toward the successful outcomes that many of her students have enjoyed. The field of social work is filled with scholars who have been mentored by Professor Pandey. I have had several conversations with scholars across the country who count her as one of their mentors. Professor Pandey’s commitment to research, mentorship, and teaching is explicitly rooted in ethics and justice and I, like many, have learned to model my work, research, and teaching based on these learnings. I’ve often said that if I can be a fraction of what she has been to me with my students, I would consider myself a success. I’m immensely grateful to Professor Pandey.
How did your experiences at BCSSW prepare you for a career in academia?
At BCSSW I found a phenomenal academic community that I still reach out to and hold close as we all navigate academia together. Some of my best writing buddies and mentors were folks I met at BC. I felt very prepared as I began as a tenure track faculty member. That was certainly because of the program, the opportunities it afforded us, and also, importantly, the time and thought invested by many academic and peer mentors through this journey. I recognized the privilege in having had the opportunity and am always looking at how I pass it onward.
Your research examines how communities experience and respond to environmental challenges, including extreme weather, air pollution, and climate change. What drew you to this area of research, and what do you ultimately hope your work will contribute?
This has been my work and passion since forever. My first job as a day-old social work graduate was as a disaster reconstruction and response professional after the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated the region. I worked with a team of social workers in a remote archipelago in the Indian Ocean (Andaman and Nicobar Islands). The years I spent there working closely with impacted communities, and later as an environmental campaigner and advocate with an international organization, continue to be central to my current work.
As a practitioner and advocate of social and environmental justice, I witnessed firsthand how communities’ social and structural barriers, reinforced in their social, natural, and built environments, limit them from reaching their full potential. Accordingly, I strive to center the experiences of communities most affected by socioenvironmental stressors such as climate change, extreme weather, and air pollution, which often occur in conjunction with persistent stressors such as poverty, racism, sexism, and ageism, among other forms of oppression. The big hope driving my work is that no one should be left unheard, or behind, and that we can work toward a world where all beings we share this planet with deserve equal consideration. It’s the hope of many lifetimes but that’s what keeps one going.
You have more than a decade of macro practice experience spanning academic and not-for-profit settings, from post-disaster community reconstruction to environmental advocacy. What would you say is your biggest professional accomplishment to date?
It’s difficult to answer this question when the challenges in front of us are this big and beyond the individual. I guess the biggest professional “accomplishment” would be establishing amazing collaborations with community members, organizations, and across disciplines. I feel with each conversation, we can show and learn that these challenges require all of us to pull together.
BCSSW’s theme for the academic year is Accompaniment in Action, with a particular emphasis on kinship. How does accompaniment and kinship show up in your work?
Nothing we do is accomplished alone. The same goes for the work I do, and that many of us do in social work, which is community engaged or community focused. How we walk with all our communities, ensure voices don’t remain unheard, challenge entrenched inequalities at all junctures, and look to Indigenous and Black communities as well as the many global struggles for the lessons they have taught us is crucial. The challenges of the climate crisis and the coupled social-environmental systems require all of us, so yes, accompaniment in action resonates deeply.