Biography
Leila Chacko is Director of Public Affairs for the India Center at UCF. Her responsibilities include overseeing and developing programming for the India Center to broaden the awareness and understanding of contemporary India. This includes managing public affairs activities, such as events at UCF collaborating with partners at UCF, the community, nationally, and internationally; and deepening ties with the Indian American community.
Leila has extensive experience working in the public sector. Before arriving at UCF, Leila worked as a Senior Program Attorney for the Guardian ad Litem Program, winning the Daniel P. Dawson award for the 18th Judicial Circuit and the Central Region for showing leadership and innovation in her advocacy. For several years, Leila managed a nonprofit organization in New Zealand, advocating for the rights of immigrant women and children. She was also a Country Specialist for a human rights organization, where she mobilized action to promote and protect human rights and wrote reports presented to the US Department of State and US House of Representatives. She currently teaches Hospitality Law as an adjunct professor at UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management. Leila received a B.A. from New York University, with a double major in East Asian Studies and Politics and a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law and an LL.M. in International Law and Politics from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.
