Dr. Tulasi R. Joshi was born and raised in Bajhang, the most remote and poorest district of Nepal, where he and his classmates had to copy chapters of high school textbooks and read under the pine’s kindling light at night. He had to travel 15 days to Kathmandu to take the high school board exam (11 days on foot, 1 day by bus, and 3 days by train in India). Despite these hardships, he excelled in education. Eventually, his dedication and commitment to education earned him Masters’s and Ph.D. degrees from prestigious American universities. He has received recognitions from three governors of West Virginia, the prestigious Cyrus R Vance award of West Virginia Department of Education, USA, several recognitions and honors from the Association of Nepalis in America (ANA), an outstanding service award from Fairmont State University, and the long-standing service recognition honor, by the Association of American Geographers (the largest international professional organization of geographers), for long dedicated service in the profession; he is perhaps the only Nepali in America, to have received such recognition from a professional organization. His motto with exemplary works is: “Make as much money as you can, save as much money as you can, and give charities as much money as you can.” Notably, he was instrumental in completing the undergraduate education of about 40 Nepali students at his University, Fairmont State University, WV, USA. He equally assisted 15 impoverished students from the poor, remote district of Bajhang in acquiring their professional education; the benefit value of these students is estimated to be over one million US dollars. The Fairmont, Virginia resident, Professor Joshi, is the Chair of the Scholarship Committee (1988-Present). Thus far, his accomplishments are as follows:
1) He established the ANA-Bajhang scholarship program in 1989, under the ANA scholarship program, to assist deserving impoverished students of the Bajhang district in acquiring their college education in Nepal. Ten students have received financial aids, and two students are currently getting scholarships.
2) He provided ANA assistance to the Nepal Scholarship Program at Fairmont State University.
3) He arranged the 9th International Convention of ANA in Fairmont, West Virginia, in 1991.
4) He is the coordinator of the Nepal Scholarship Program at Fairmont State University (FSU), West Virginia, 1989-Present, where he has been a professor for over four decades.
5) He coordinated the support of ANA, the Association of Nepalese in Midwest America (ANMA), and FSU to establish the Nepal Scholarship Program at FSU in 1989 to assist Nepali students in studying at FSU. He also contributed and raised funds for the scholarship program. The program and international scholarships of FSU have benefited about 40 Nepali students with approximately $1,000,000 for their undergraduate studies at FSU. The scholarship program has recently been named ANA-Tulasi and Marilyn Joshi scholarship at FSU.
In recognition of his outstanding community service, he was awarded the US President’s Volunteer Award Gold- 2018, Cyrus R. Vance Award for International Education in West Virginia, from the State of West Virginia, in November 2003. The award consisted of a $5,000 gift and a bent-neck decanter hand-made by Blenko Glass, West Virginia, Museum of Modern Arts Good Design Award in 1950. The money was donated to the Nepal Scholarship Program at FSU. He also receives a Gold medal from the king, Mahendra, of Nepal for academic excellence (1963).
