Penn State Behrend professor alleges in lawsuit he was not promoted due to discrimination

An associate professor at Penn State Behrend — who argued his publication record trumped that of even the chancellor and department chair — said he was denied a promotion to the rank of full professor of electrical and computer engineering “on the basis of his race, national origin, age and gender,” according to an ongoing lawsuit.

Sudarshan Nelatury, who identifies as Indian/South Asian, was recommended for promotion in 2019 by a college ad hoc committee, which characterized his accomplishments at the commonwealth campus as “impressive,” according to court documents. But the chancellor, Ralph Ford, ultimately recommended he be denied — despite research awards and other accolades — and instead recommended a much-younger, non-Indian/non-white female faculty member that the ad hoc committee suggested Nelatury should be promoted over.

According to the lawsuit, Ford’s denial came after three separate administrators implied to Nelatury that Ford would not recommend his eventual promotion.

“Penn State has created an ethnic and racial glass ceiling that Dr. Nelatury cannot penetrate despite his excellence,” an amended complaint against the university read.

Nelatury, who says he has developed “stress-related physiological ailments,” is seeking a jury trial with the hope of compensation from back pay; front pay; damages from emotional distress, medical harm and reputation harm; attorney’s fees; and pre- and post-judgment interest. The next step is a scheduling conference set for 2 p.m. Feb. 16 before U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter.

Penn State formally responded to Nelatury’s amended complaint in December and largely rejected his claims. In the university’s filed response, it denied the characterization that Nelatury received “consistently high” ratings from students.

Both the university and an attorney representing Nelatury declined to comment further to the CDT.

According to the complaint, Nelatury — who’s taught at Behrend in Erie, Pennsylvania, since 2003 — was awarded tenure in 2009. He first broached the topic of a promotion to Ford in 2015 and applied for it during the 2018-2019 academic year.

In January 2019, Nelatury sought to include additional information in a dossier that would be reviewed by others, such as letters of commendation and his fall 2018 evaluations from students, but the school of engineering director disallowed that, despite a February deadline. Ford declined to recommend his promotion that February.

More than a year later, after filing a petition to the university faculty senate, a faculty senate committee found that Nelatury should not have been prevented from adding those evaluations and letters. The committee ruled Nelatury should be allowed to re-apply for promotion during the 2020-2021 academic year, according to the lawsuit, and the vice provost of Faculty Affairs ordered that Nelatury’s review be carried through all university levels.

However, per the complaint, that move was effectively “preemptively blocked” by Ford — an act, Nelatury’s attorney alleged, of retaliation.

According to the amended complaint, Nelatury did not receive a promotion despite a long list of accomplishments that trumped others in similar positions. In court documents, Nelatury said his academic publications have been cited 1,873 times since 2016, garnered 86,805 reads on the “Research Gate” website and earned a “Research Gate” score of 26.46. By comparison, Ford — the chancellor who previously served as Behrend’s director of the School of Engineering — had been cited 179 times, earned 9,372 reads and received a score of 13.75.

Nelatury has authored eight books, four book chapters, 23 book chapters and 37 peer-reviewed journal papers in addition to 48 papers in open-access journals. He has been a recipient of the “Outstanding Research Award” and “Council of Fellows Research Award.”

“The denial of promotion, the procedural irregularities with respect to his initial application for promotion, the ongoing review of Dr. Nelatury’s dossier and the failure to address his concerns regarding discrimination all constitute adverse employment actions,” the amended complaint read.