Ideas & Insights

WGTE Public Media and Prof. Badrinath Rao are co-producing a weekly educational TV show, Ideas & Insights. The program is comprised of two parts: a discussion about scholarly books on contemporary issues, and an analytical segment on socio-economic, political and cultural developments across the globe.

Ideas & Insights seeks to:

• Elevate the quality of public debate through civic education 
• Foster the love of reading among youth and the general public
• Introduce cutting-edge ideas and insights about the most critical issues of our times
• Expose viewers to the latest books written by leading scholars and thinkers 
• Shed light on innovative and seminal ways of thinking about controversial topics
• Provide a rich context and analytical framework for making sense of developments in different parts of the world
• Promote a nuanced appreciation for the human condition
• Initiate a dialog to promote the common good and forge a consensus on what we owe to each other as fellow human beings.

About Your Host

Badrinath Rao is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Asian Studies in the Department of Liberal Studies at Kettering University. He is also a licensed attorney in Michigan. In 2018-19, Prof. Rao was the Kosciusko Foundation Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Artes Liberales at the University of Warsaw, Poland.
Dr. Rao got his JD from Wayne State University School of Law in Detroit, Michigan. Earlier, he earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Dr. Rao has lectured and presented papers in several countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, S. Korea, Serbia, Spain, Turkey, Uruguay, and the USA.
Currently, Dr. Rao is working on a monograph on vigilantism in India.
Dr. Rao has taught in six countries: India, China, the United States, Spain, Poland, and Canada. He was a visiting faculty in the Master’s Program at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, University of the Basque Country, Oñati, Spain, in 2005-07. Dr. Rao was also a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Asian Studies at Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, in 2009. In 2014, he was a Visiting Professor at the Southeast University in Nanjing, China, and the Harbin Institute of Technology, School of Law, Harbin, China. In the summer of 2017, Prof. Rao was a Visiting Faculty at the School of Law at Hunan University, Changsha, China. Besides, he has visited China 11 times and lectured in 36 Chinese universities on issues concerning the law, social sciences, leadership, and ethics.
Prof. Rao received the ‘Outstanding Teaching Award’ at Kettering University in December 2022.
Dr. Rao’s legal practice comprises business, labor, civil, and family matters. He also volunteers as a pro bono attorney at Lakeshore Legal Aid in Detroit, MI, and at the Legal Services of South-Central Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI.
In 2019, the State Bar of Michigan included Dr. Rao’s name in its Pro Bono Roll of Honor for providing over 100 hours of free legal representation to indigent and underserved clients.
In addition to his work as a professor and attorney, Dr. Rao has also produced a TV show for Orion Neighborhood TV in Michigan, US.