University of Denver Fall 2023

DAPHNE RAJENTHIRAM Daphne Rajenthiram graduated in August 2023, having completed both a Master of Business Administration and a master’s in business analytics in just two years. Raised in Rajapalayam, India, Rajenthiram earned a Bachelor of Technology from Anna University in her home state of Tamil Nadu before continuing on to a earn a master’s in environmental engineering from Oklahoma State University. Upon graduating, Rajenthiram dove straight into the industry as an environmental engineer in Texas before returning to India to pursue an interdisciplinary doctorate in engineering and management. But she quickly realized that her interests lay in the management realm. “That’s part of what caused me to apply for MBAs,” she says, “and to make a trajectory change.” Diving into DU’s MBA program, Rajenthiram took ana lytics courses as electives during her first year, rediscovering a passion for combining management with a math-heavy discipline. After her first year wrapped up, she was accepted into the data analytics program, and a year later, she graduated with both degrees. For Rajenthiram, her path from engineer to manager and analyst makes sense. “I’ve always had an interest in numbers, and maybe that’s why the engineering and the analytics,” she says, “and what I realized was, a part of what I used to do in engineering was analytics, and I just didn’t know it.”

When she managed to find free time amidst her dual-degree course schedule and her role as a graduate assistant in the executive education program, Rajenthiram took advantage of DU’s central location to get out and explore Colorado. “As international students,” she says, “it’s fun. You don’t have commitments like other students who are like, ‘Oh, I have to go visit family, or I have go do this or that.’ It’s just, ‘What do we do?’” And do, she has. From trips to Crested Butte and Gunnison to witnessing a pack burro race—one of Colorado’s most unique traditions—during Gold Rush Days in Buena Vista. “I’d never seen anything like that,” she says. “And then the same weekend, we saw people surfing on a river, which was pretty cool.” While it enabled her thorough exploration of the state, freedom from commitments was not without its downsides. “I knew that not having a community would be harder,” she says. “So, I was looking to plug myself into places.” Rajenthiram says she found her community in Bridges International, an on-campus student group. “It’s a faith based organization, but they provide a platform for all students to just come meet and hang out,” she says. “They are all from different countries and different programs, but we’re all essentially going through that same experience of being an international student at DU.”

“As international students, it’s fun. You don’t have commitments like other students who are like, ‘Oh, I have to go visit family, or I have go do this or that.’ It’s just, ‘What do we do?’”

Daphne Rajenthiram from Rajapalayam, India

FALL 2023 • UNIVERSITY of DENVER MAGAZINE | 27