Ria Dhingra is the Student Flourishing Coordinator at the Center for Healthy Minds, a role that has her assisting in course administration for the popular Art and Science of Human Flourishing Course. Integrating regular mindfulness and meditation practices, the class centers students in creating their own recipe for flourishing to support both individual and community well-being. She also supports both the Student Ambassadors Program and the Healthy Minds on Campus registered student organization.

Ria is a graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in both English Literature and Philosophy with a Certificate in Leadership. As a student, Ria revived and ran the Madison Journal of Literary Criticism (MJLC), an international publication and abolitionist study group, as Editor in Chief. Her undergraduate research, entitled “An Ecological Approach to Abolition: A Holistic Analysis of Discrimination Systems,” spanned four years and focused on a systems theory framework towards dismantling the carceral state. Her senior honors thesis, “Angst: An Examination of the Coming-of-Age Novel in Relation to Capital,” centered on the Bildungsroman in relation to capitalism, specifically looking at the works of Donna Tartt and Honoré de Balzac.

Ria currently lives in Madison with two fellow Badger alumni, a dog, and a cat. She is a lover of Modernist literature, synthesis essays, public radio, supporting local musicians, digital photography, Midwestern poetry, and long walks.