The McCausland Faculty Fellowship, the premier fellowship in the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences, recognizes Viswanath's outstanding record as both a scholar and a teacher
A scholar of children’s and young adult literature, Viswanath explores constructions of feminine agency in young adult novels and films, the roles of creators and readers in picture books, and the dynamics of authority and participation in the children’s literature classroom. Her current projects include a forthcoming book, The Discursive Material: Constructions of Femininity in Young Adult Speculative Fiction, and a second book-length study on representations of the South Asian diaspora in children’s and young adult literature. She teaches courses in children’s literature, literary theory, and cultural studies and is consistently praised by her students for her attentive teaching and high academic standards that foster an inclusive classroom environment.