Rashad Ullah

Bard College at Simon’s Rock offered Rashad Ullah an avenue to pursue his fascination with linguistics. That passion led to a career working with international organizations as a senior advisor in applied linguistics.

At the global intelligence company JTG, Rashad is part of a team that helps governments and businesses make decisions and tackle global challenges when flawless communications are crucial to a mission’s success. As a senior language researcher, Rashad consults with native-speaking authors on creating grammar and practice readers in less commonly taught languages such as Syrian Arabic, Iraqi Arabic, Kurdish, Dari, and Amharic.

Prior to JTG, Rashad was a senior linguist in the Language Research Center at AECOM, where he conducted original research on the Bengali language and designed resource materials for foreign language learners, including a Bangladeshi Slang Dictionary. Rashad speaks eight languages—Bengali, English, French, German, Hindi, Persian, Spanish, and Urdu.

Rashad received his BA in Linguistics and Music at Simon’s Rock.

Linguistics Program

Music Program

He received his MA, MPhil, and PhD, all in Linguistics, at Yale University.

“Linguistics to me has always been fascinating because language is an integral part of daily life. It's part of the human condition and yet when we try to tease it apart, take it apart, study it, it can be very alien and counterintuitive at times.”

After Simon’s Rock, Rashad’s research on the neuropsychology of language led him to graduate work at Yale, where he earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate—all in linguistics.

As a PhD candidate at Yale University, Rashad served as a linguistics representative and member of the Student Assembly Steering Committee. He tutored Yale undergraduates, developed class lectures, taught course sections, and guest lectured. Rashad was granted a U.S. Dept. of State Critical Languages Fellowship to study advanced Bengali in Kolkata, India, and wrote his dissertation on “Bangla K-words: Negative Polarity, Epistemic Indefiniteness, and Free Choice.”

“Time-Course of Semantic Composition: The Case of Aspectual Coercion,” an article Rashad coauthored while pursuing his doctorate, was published in the Journal of Psycholinguistics Research in 2006.

Rashad has volunteered with Drishtipat DC, a network of individuals devoted to human rights and social justice in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi-American community, and is a translator for the Hindu American Foundation. In 2015, he served as a delegate on Capitol Hill for the foundation’s DC Advocacy Days.

The Language of Music

Music was an important part of Rashad's time at Simon’s Rock. “Music is always in my ears, in my head. It’s like breathing. It’s just always there.” He seized every opportunity to play the grand piano in the Kellogg Music Center and enrolled in private music lessons.

While his initial concentration at Simon’s Rock was linguistics, Rashad added a second concentration in music. With this dual course of study he was able to explore the intersection of music and language, which eventually became the focus for his senior thesis, “Music as Language: A Study of Meaning, Grammar, and Mind.”

Rashad credits his mentors, Simon’s Rock music professors Larry Wallach and John Myers, with dispensing advice—from how to proceed with a graduate education to what to expect if he were to teach at a liberal arts college.

“My entire time at Simon’s Rock, the professors I had really pushed me to ask the toughest questions and to think outside the box, and really challenged me intellectually.”

John Myers in turn had high praise for Rashad as a student. “Aside from his all-around academic excellence, Rashad is deeply interested in music, languages, and neuropsychology. His ability to make connections among these areas of study is also impressive.”

Rashad is thankful for the faculty members and administrators who supported him through life as an early college student. “I’m very grateful for the warmth, and the compassion and wisdom of the people who provided support for me as a very young student at 16, 17.”