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Second from
the right in the photo above, Preeti Priya, Class of '96,
celebrates with alumni and other members of the SBU
Alumni Board of Directors
at the end of a successful night at the 101 Club in January
2004. (Double click photo to enlarge.) For those reading
this who are not Indian, Preeti's name is pronounced Pree
(rhymes with tree) thee (like the beginning of theatre) with
the stress on the first syllable Pree, Pree ya.
Preeti
graduated from SBU in 1996, majoring in Political Science and
Philosophy. She went on to Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law
Center, received her J.D. in 1999 and was admitted to the bar in 2000.
Stony
Brook is definitely a family affair for Preeti.
Her brother, Guarav
Prasad,
is currently a senior here and has aspirations to be a successful
entrepreneur. Her father, Dr.
Vish Prasad, now
Dean of Engineering at Florida International University, began at SBU
as a mechanical engineering professor. He then became Associate Dean
of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Engineering and
Applied Sciences under Yacov
Shamash
before accepting the offer to be
in Shamash's position at FIU.
Preeti
is active on the Board of the SBU Alumni Association just as she was
active as an undergrad. She was one of those students
petitioning the University to approve a Center
for India Studies,
a member of Club
India
(now known as Club SASA), and
put her photogenic face behind the camera as the assistant general
manager of 3TV
(now SBU TV) in its early years.
Preeti's
next goal is to work with Prof.
S.N. Sridhar, Director of the Center
of India Studies, and Dr.
Sunita Mukhi,
Director of the Charles
B. Wang Center Celebrating Asian and Asian American Cultures,
to have a Manhattan get together to raise support for performances and
programs about India. (And here are more name lessons. Sridhar is pronounced
Shree der - so you add an h sound in the first
syllable where you don't have one and you don't pronounce it in the
second syllable where you do have one. And if I am wrong, he is
a linguistics professor and in the next issue we will have a
lesson! Sunita Mukhi - everyone pronounces her name wrong - is Sue
nee tuh, second syllable stressed, Moo key, first syllable
stressed.)
Preeti is
currently an associate in the law firm of Rivera,
Hunter, Colon & Dobshinsky in
Manhattan. The firm concentrates in civil and commercial
litigation in the state and federal courts of New York and New
Jersey. The firm is actively involved in personal injury
litigation, contract and commercial litigation, insurance contract and
coverage litigation, significant property damage litigation, real
estate matters, litigation involving the Uniform Commercial Code,
shareholder disputes, community association matters, and employment
matters. Preeti handles state trial practice, personal injury
and property damage litigation, contracts, along with arbitration and
mediation. 90% of her time is devoted to
litigation.
Prior
to joining RHC&D, Preeti was In House Counsel for
Westminster U.S.A. Before
being admitted to the Bar, she was a legal intern at Symbol
Technologies and prior to that took advantage of SBU's internship
programs to be a law clerk with the Suffolk County District
Attorney's Office.
She
is a member of the South
Asian Bar Association,
the American Bar
Association, and the New York County Lawyer's Association. She
is a founding
member of South
Asian Women's Leadership Forum (SAWLF), an
organization based in Manhattan that brings together women of diverse
backgrounds for the purpose of networking, resource and knowledge
sharing, and mentoring in a professional environment.
If
you need an attorney in an area she handles, call her, or talk to the
SBU Alumni Association, the Center for India Studies, or [AA]2 for the names of other alumni lawyers.
Alumni supporting alumni is one of the most important things alumni
can do for each other and for future SBU grads.
SBU alumna Tara
Nyack, a
paralegal at Stroock & Stroock who is deciding between grad school
in international affairs or law school, had this to say about Preeti:
"Growing up in a small town in Long Island, I never had someone
who looked like me to look up to. It was difficult to look to my
parents because as immigrants they did not go through the same
experiences I would encounter as a young adult. I would always
try to blend in and even let people think I was Sicilian, Spanish or
whatever they wanted. If I corrected them, they were mesmerized,
like an Indian girl wearing blue jeans was from another
planet."
"Working in the corporate legal field, it is difficult to find
South Asian American contemporaries. I have only met a few, so I
was excited when I had the pleasure of meeting Preeti. Not only
is she beautiful, but she is an outspoken attorney with an edge who
won't take no for an answer, in other words a Wall Street litigator.
She has been an inspiration for me in my legal career plowing a
path not traditionally traveled by the stereotypical soft-spoken
Indian women of days past."
"Preeti is also a co-founder of an organization that supports and
encourages South Asian women to undertake untraditional roles. I
am extremely proud to now count Preeti amongst my friends and
mentors. She is an inspiration to young Asian American women
pursuing a career in which Asian women are few and far between.
She is someone to look up to and just a small dose of what's to be
expected of Asian Americans to come. When Preeti enters the
room, her presence is known either from her prevailing beauty,
attitude or plain boldness. She is a mentor and a symbol for
young Indian women in America, our "didi"
(sister)."
If
you are thinking about law school and would like some of that
mentoring , Preeti will be one of the SBU alumnae giving a career
choices workshop at the AURA-[AA]2
Chick Flick Fest Young Asian American Women Speak Out
on April 24th in the Wang
Center. If you are a South Asian alumna in the city and want
networking, check out SAWLF.
(A
little Latin language lesson too - alumna means female, alumnus means
male, alumnae is plural female, alumni is plural male but given the
patriarchal world we live in...)
Alumni
who would like to hang out again just for old times sake, go to any
SBU Alumni Reunion, or better yet, convince them to have the first
Club India / Club SASA and/or 3TV / SBU TV reunions! Too many
members of the SBU Alumni Association Board were never involved
students like Preeti and don't understand the value of affinity group
reunions. Let your voices be heard - give her the back-up to go
to the Board and say - "See, alumni want this! Let's do
it!" ppriya@rhcdlaw.com
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