Biographical Sketch

Pratul Pathak is a Professor in the English department and Director of the Faculty Professional Development Center at California University of Pennsylvania. His areas of specialization are Nineteenth Century British Literature, Technical Writing, Travel Literature, and Spy Fiction.

Background:

Born in India, he received his B.A. Honors, M.A. in English, and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Delhi, India. His teaching experience includes twelve years (1970-1983) as a lecturer in English at Hansraj College, Delhi University. Pratul came to the U.S. in 1983 and received an M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. His book, The Infinite Passion of Finite Hearts, was published in 1992. During that time he has written articles, and worked for local businesses as a technical writing consultant. On graduation he taught in the English department for a year at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He took up his present position in 1990 and was department chair from 1996-2002.

Interests:

During the decade that he taught in Delhi University, Pratul became an active climber and trekker. After receiving his Basic Training at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, he climbed extensively in the Gharwal and Kashmir Himalayas with Japanese, British and Canadian expeditions. He also worked as a photo journalist and published numerous articles and photographs of his wanderings in the Indian Himalayas and Tibet in some of India's leading newspapers and journals such as India Today, The Hindustan Times, The Press Trust of India, Destination India, and Caravan.

These days Pratul is busy collecting books on mountaineering, doing research and writing about the explorations in Central Asia in the 19th and early 20th centuries that traced the course of the Tsangpo-Bramhaputra river, and putting together an anthology of essays and photos of his climbs. His other interests are Indian cooking, new-age music, collecting shot glasses, and playing Indian music on keyboards. Pratul resumed his climbing career this summer in the Canadian Rockies, and has plans to visit a Himalayan peak on his next trip to India in 2008.

Mt. Kailas in Tibet