Lecturers
Amish Mulmi is the author of All Roads Lead North: China, Nepal & the Contest for the Himalayas (Oxford University Press US/Hurst UK/Context India). His writings have appeared in History Today, Al Jazeera, Engelsberg Ideas, Hindustan Times, The Third Pole, Roads and Kingdoms, The Kathmandu Post, among other publications. He has also written for Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Observer Research Foundation, and Centre for Social and Economic Progress. He is a consulting editor at Writer’s Side Literary Agency and a contributing editor at Himal Southasian.
Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha is a passionate advocate for the preservation and promotion of Nepali Cultural Heritage. With a profound dedication to art, culture, exhibition curation, and museum education, she brings a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to her work. Currently serving as the Curator and PR Officer at the Nepal Art Council, Swosti has curated numerous art exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Additionally, as a recently appointed Board member of Patan Museum, she continues to shape the narrative of Nepali heritage through her involvement in key institutions. Swosti is also a lecturer of museum studies and Buddhist art history of Nepal at Lumbini Buddhist University, Nepal. She enjoys curating exhibitions and making educational programs for exhibitions and writes articles related to Nepali art and culture. Swosti is a Fulbright Visiting Scholar for the academic year 2024-25, where she will be hosted by the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. During her tenure, she plans to explore the vibrant Nepali diaspora community in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a particular focus on Nepali diaspora artists.
Amchi (Doctor) Sherab Tenzin is a doctor of Sowa Rigpa, traditional Tibetan and Himalayan medicine, from Bhutan. Dr. Sherab received many important teachings and transmissions from Buddhist masters such as H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche, H.H. Trulshik Rinpoche, Taklung Tsutrul Rinpoche, H.E. Dr. Trogawa Rinpoche, and many other masters from Kagyu and Nyingma lineages. Dr. Sherab studied Buddhist Philosophy at Phajoding and Tango Buddhist College in Thimpu, Bhutan. He studied three years of traditional Tibetan medicine at Dechen Choeling Tibetan Medical Institute in Thimpu, Bhutan. He then received a bachelor’s degree in Tibetan medicine and surgery after completing five years of theoretical studies at Chagpori Tibetan Medical Institute in Darjeeling and Mentsekhang Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute in Dharamsala, India, between 1990 – 1996. In 2009 received the degree of “Men Rampa” (MD) in traditional medicine. He runs Pure Vision Sorig, a medical clinic and healing center in Pharping, just outside of the Kathmandu valley where he hosts SIT students for their program orientation and teaches them about Buddhism and Sowa Rigpa.
Anil Chitrakar received one of the first Ashoka fellowships in Nepal in 1987 for his founding of Environmental Camps for Conservation Awareness. He has spent three decades as a conservationist, environmental leader, and senior Ashoka fellow in Nepal. An engineer by training, Anil pursued graduate work in energy planning at the University of Pennsylvania and joined the Kathmandu municipality for several years before heading to Washington, DC, to become a senior fellow in residence. His projects and organizations have received numerous awards and grants, and he is working on a solar lighting system for villages in Nepal. Anil has taught SIT students in Nepal for many years.
Sonam Lama is a trained architect born in Tsum, a Himalayan region in the northern Gorkha district of Nepal. He received a meritorious scholarship to earn a Diploma and Bachelors of architecture in Kathmandu and a masters in international cooperation and urban development, sustainable emergency architecture in Germany and Spain under the prestigious Erasmus Mundus Scholarship. Sonam has worked at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and developed a chapter on The Great Himalayan Trail Preparatory Study. He also worked with the United Nations Human Settlement Program in Mongolia, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) office in Kathmandu. He is an adviser of Tsum Welfare Committee, a non-profit organization working in Tsum. He promoted and developed a sustainable tourism in Tsum through home stay initiatives. He is the owner of Tsum Valley Home Stay. He is also Fulbright Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship awardee for 2020. Sonam has been lecturing at SIT and advising Independent Study Projects (ISPs) since 2015.
The program is also supported by:
- Manoj Tamang, Cook
- Manju Nepali, Housekeeper
- Manu Tamang, Housekeeper
Language Partners
Our language partners provide daily one-on-one lessons to students in our intensive Tibetan language courses. More than 20 language partners hail from different regions of Tibet, India, and Nepal. Their interactive lessons adapt to serve different needs and learning styles, also exposing students to various regional accents and idioms. Many of our language partners also teach at the nearby Centre for Buddhist Studies at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute.