Ambika Kapur is a program director in Carnegie’s Education program. She oversees grantmaking focused on strengthening civic participation in education — helping young people develop the skills, values, and dispositions needed to participate fully in civic life, both inside and outside of school. Her work emphasizes the role of public institutions, such as libraries, as essential civic hubs within communities.
Previously, Kapur led grantmaking efforts aimed at engaging parents, communities, educators, and policymakers to better understand and advocate for improvements in education.
Before that, Kapur served as officer of special projects in the National Program, where she oversaw the program budget, coordinated grantmaking strategies, and supported the vice president on strategic priorities. She managed grantmaking and communications related to the development and mobilization of the Next Generation Science Standards and led the foundation’s participation in the Common Core Communications Collaborative, designed to strengthen strategic communications at both state and national levels in support of the Common Core Standards.
Earlier in her tenure, Kapur served as program manager in the Dissemination Program, a catalytic fund created to amplify and reinforce major Carnegie-wide initiatives. In that role, she made key contributions to the Journalism Initiative, which sought to revitalize journalism education in the United States.
Prior to joining Carnegie, Kapur worked at the Women’s Educational Equity Act Resource Center at the Education Development Center in Boston, where she did quantitative and qualitative research on educational equity issues within the U.S. and internationally.
Kapur was born in Calcutta. She has a BA in international relations from Wellesley College and an MA in international education development from Teachers College at Columbia University. She sits on the advisory board of Youth Truth, a national survey project operated by the Center for Effective Philanthropy and is cochair of the advisory board of the Collaborative for Student Success.