Mahatapa Palit

Professor Mahatapa Palit started her career in marketing research and went on to get a doctoral degree in business management focused on consumer behavior. Before joining BMCC in 2003, she spent four years with a technology startup as its marketing director. She is the Chairperson of the Business Management Department at BMCC.

Prof. Palit’s research interests cover the marketing of the arts; entrepreneurship; and the role of community colleges in building career pathways for students. She has over ten years of experience in entrepreneurship education and a belief in the changing role of business in society. She is currently the Co-PI of a grant from the Kaufmann foundation that enables students to see themselves as researchers and scholars as they explore the entrepreneurial eco-system of their communities. She is inspired by the role of entrepreneurs in bringing about social change and is the recipient of an interdisciplinary NEH grant with a focus on enriching entrepreneurship education with a humanistic context—a context where underrepresented community college students may explore their own sense of purpose, reflect on their learning, and draw parallels with their own life experiences. In 2016, she co-managed a grant involving BMCC and CUNY students that explored the role of performing arts and humanities on education, community, and economy using student voices and experiences to study the development of a creative campus.

“I believe student engagement is the key to helping students succeed, and I have tried to cultivate different ways to do that through the use of digital technology, project-based learning, and teamwork,” she said.