US SENATE CONFIRMS DEEPA GUPTA AND ANUJ DESAI TO US POSTS


The U.S. Senate recently confirmed the nominations by President Barack Obama of two Indian Americans - Deepa Gupta of Illinois, as a member of the National Council on the Arts; and Anuj Chang Desai of Wisconsin, as a member of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission.

Desai who teaches Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School will join as Member, Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. Before joining the University of Wisconsin faculty in 2001, Desai practiced law at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.

Desai is the sixth Indian American to be named to a top administration job this year alone. Obama has more Indian Americans serving in high places than any other previous US administration.

Gupta is a program officer for Media, Culture and Special Initiatives at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, where she manages the Foundation's grant making in arts and culture in Chicago and the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

Gupta earned her M.B.A. from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and an M.P.A. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She has an A.B. in Public Policy and Biology from the University of Chicago.