India Initiative

Events

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Recent Events

 

 

The 2nd Annual Meeting of Fulbright-Nehru Scholars at Sigur(October 23, 2012)

A dozen top scholar-administrators from Indian universities spread throughout the country met with Associate Director Deepa Ollapally on October 23, 2012 to discuss how to enhance student and faculty exchanges. The session was exceptional because the Fulbright-Nehru scholars all hold high decision-making authority in their home universities, taking the dialogue beyond a scholarly discussion. Both US and India have made a big push in recent years to facilitate meetings between high-level university administrators who are in a position to kick-start actual collaboration. In this round of dialogue, the Sigur Center was able to ascertain important specific information on where GW students could be hosted with special classes and living facilities for foreign students. Many Indian universities have made great strides in just the last two years in setting up international programs offices which is critical to implementing any type of prospective exchanges. The lack of such facilities have created big obstacles in the past.

The Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators (IEA) Seminar is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, a division of the Institute of International Education, in cooperation with the United States-India Educational Foundation.

The 2nd Annual Hosting of Fullbright-Nehru Scholars

Above: The 2012 delegation of Fulbright-Nehru Scholars, members of the Fulbright International Education Administrators Program meet with Professor Deepa Ollapally at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies. Participants invcluded:

Dr. Vandana Chakrabarti, Pro Vice Chancellor , S.N.D.T. Women's University in Mumbai
Dr. Vijaya Dinesh Deshmukh, Registrar, Ministry of Commerce and Industry at the National Institute of Design
Dr. Prasanta Ghosh, Principal, Department of Social Work, Institute of Rural Reconstruct, Visva-Bharati
Dr. Kolandaivel Ponmalai Gounder, Director, School for Physical Sciences, Bharathiar University
Dr. Mary Venus Joseph, International Coordinator, Rajagiri International Exchange Program
Dr. Abhaya Kumar Naik, Registrar, Administration, National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar
Dr. Lokendra Singh Naorem, Registrar, Professor of History, Manipur University, Imphal
Dr. Monsingh David Devadas Ratnaswamy, Chair and Professor, Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, Chennai
Dr. Prabir Kumar Saha, Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati
Dr. Sumam David Sarah, Professor and Dean, Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, Mangalore
Dr. Rajendraprasad Dattatraya Shinde, Vice-Principal and Associate Professor, Botany Department, St. Xavier's College, Mumbai
Dr. Gursharan Singh, Dean, Postgraduate Studies, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana

Fulbright-Nehru Scholars

Above: The 2012 delegation of Fulbright-Nehru Scholars, members of the Fulbright International Education Administrators Program and Francesca Slesinger, Associate Director for Communications, Office of International Programs pose for a group photograph in the Sigur Center with Deepa Ollapally.

Power, Identity, and Security in Asia: Views on Regional Cooperation and the U.S. Role (April 16, 2012)

OAS Conversations with Scholars: "Red Vengeance: Political Inequality and Maoist Violence in India" with Emmanuel Teitelbaum, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs; Director, Master of Arts Program in Asian Studies (March 20, 2012)

Remembering Refugees: Stories from the 1947 Partition of India from Mumbai, and Beyond with Kavita Daiya, Associate Professor of English and Director, MA Program in English, GWU (February 9, 2012)

Opportunities and Disappointments of the "Look North" Policy: Indian Strategies for Central Asia with Marlene Laruelle Research Professor of International Affairs, GWU (February 2, 2012)

India as a Global Power: Contending Views from India (January 23, 2012)


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Hosting Fulbright-Nehru Scholars
October 21, 2011

The Sigur Center hosted 13 Fulbright-Nehru Scholars, members of the Fulbright International Education Administrators Program, for a briefing about the Sigur Center's current research, events, and academic programs on India. The delegation included high-level representatives from a range of leading universities in India. The group met with Matt Grieger, Assistant Director of the Sigur Center's Rising Powers Initiative, to discuss the levels and scope of the Center's engagement with India.

Matt briefed the delegation on the history and accomplishments of the India Initiative and highlighted the five students to which the Sigur Center has provided fellowship support for language study, internships, and field research in India under the auspices of the India Initiative. The delegation also learned about the central importance that India plays in the Center's Rising Powers Initiative, including the two project conferences held in Delhi in the past two years. Matt also introduced the visitors to the Sigur Center's wide array of India and South Asia events held each year, our partnerships with leading Indian think tanks and universities, and GW's excellent courses and faculty on India and the region.

Hosting Fulbright-Nehru Scholars

The delegation of Fulbright-Nehru Scholars, members of the Fulbright International Education Administrators Program pose for a group photograph in the Sigur Center offices.


This meeting was especially productive as many of the participants expressed interest in partnering with the Sigur Center and GW on research, conferences, and student exchanges. The Sigur Center will be exploring areas of potential collaboration with these, and other Indian institutions, in the future.

Before meeting with the Sigur Center, the delegation members met with the Associate Provost for International Programs, the Director of the MA International Affairs program at the Elliott School, and the Associate Dean of the Law School. They also toured the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Law School.

The delegation included:

  • Dr. Mohammed Badrul Alam - Professor, Department of Political Science (Jamia Millia Islamia University , New Delhi)
  • Dr. Vittaleswar Alapati - Deputy Director, Planning (Manipal University, Manipal)
  • Mrs. Jayshree Balasubramanian - Program Manager, International Students Office (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai)
  • Dr. Basab Chaudhuri - Registrar (University of Calcutta, Kolkata)
  • Dr. H. Crosby Vijayakumar- Associate Professor, Department of Political Science & Dean, International Programs (Madras Christian College, Chennai)
  • Dr. Kannabiran Ganesan - Dean, Research and Consultancy (National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli)
  • Mr. Adam Goretsky - Executive Director (United States-India Educational Foundation, New Delhi)
  • Dr. Shashikala Gurpur-Murphy - Director, Symbiosis Law School & Dean, Faculty of Law (Symbiosis International University, Pune)
  • Dr. Ajay Khare- Director, School of Planning and Architecture (Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal)
  • Dr. Mahendra Lama - Vice Chancellor (Central University of Sikkim, Gangtok)
  • Dr. Pankaj Mittal- Vice Chancellor (BPS Mahila Vishwavidyalya, Sonipat)
  • Dr. Aparna Rayaprol - Associate Professor, Department of Sociology & Director, Study in India Program (University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad)
  • Dr. Babli Moitra Saraf - Principal, Indraprastha College for Women (University of Delhi, Delhi)
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Conference – Identity and Asian Powers: What Does it Mean for Regional Cooperation?
February 21-22, 2011
New Dehli, India

India is one of the key countries in two major research projects housed in the Sigur Center: Worldviews of Aspiring Powers: Exploring Foreign Policy Debates Abroad, and Power and Identity in Asia: Implication for Regional Cooperation. The Worldviews of Aspiring Powers project held a series of seminars in New Delhi, attracting a large and influential audience.

On February 21 and 22, 2011, the Sigur Center organized two events held in New Delhi, India. The events were sponsored by a generous grant from the MacArthur Foundation. They were organized in a partnership with, and hosted by, two of the most prominent think-tanks in India: the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) and the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). The Think Tanks and Civil Society Program at the University of Pennsylvania has recently ranked IPCS as a top-40 think-tank in Asia.

The conference addressed pressing identity issues in Asia and their impact on the future of the region and on the United States foreign policymaking. The presenters focused on the key identity issues in China, India, Japan, and South Korea, respectively, such as the consequences of a divided Korea and the implications of Japan's identity as a peace state. Prominent experts from the United States, India, and from elsewhere in Asia presented their research.
» Learn more about the seminars in New Delhi

Other events sponsored by the India Initiative

  • India's Energy Security Challenges: An Insider's View with Sudha Mahalingam, Member, India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (December 1, 2011)
  • Remembering Refugees: Stories from the 1947 Partition of India from Mumbai, and Beyond with Kavita Daiya Associate Professor of English and Director, MA Program in English, The George Washington University (November 30, 2011)
  • Chinese and Japanese Investments in South and Southeast Asia: Case Studies from the Automobile and Electronics Industries with Eric Harwit, Professor, Asian Studies, University of Hawaii (November 16, 2011)
  • Implications of Emerging Space Cooperation Dynamics in Asia with Dinesh Kumar Yadavendra, Visiting Scholar, The Space Policy Institute, The George Washington University (October 11, 2011)
  • Warriors after War: Conversations with Indian and Pakistani Military Brass with Tridivesh Singh Maini, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi (September 14, 2011)
  • 15th Annual Gaston Sigur Memorial Lecture with Mani Shankar Aiyar (April 27, 2011)
  • Worldviews of Rising Powers: Domestic Foreign Policy Debates(April 25, 2011)
  • GW Diaspora Seminar: Comparative Diaspora Politics: The Cases of China and India (April 21, 2011)
  • Conversations with Scholars: The Rise of India and China: A Comparative Perspective with Deepa Ollapally (April 20, 2011)
  • Asian Film Series: Kekexili (Mountain Patrol) (April 18, 2011)
  • Identity and Rising Asian Powers: Implications for Regional Cooperation (April 14, 2011)
  • Asian Film Series: 3 Idiots (April 1, 2011)
  • Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Lecture-Concert featuring Sudeshna Basu, vocal and harmonium; Debu Nayak, tabla; Jeff Bauer, piano; Nistha Raj, violin (March 31, 2011)
  • India in US-Asia Relations: A View from Washington (February 22, 2011 -- New Delhi, India)
  • Identity and Asian Powers: What Does it Mean for Regional Cooperation? held at the India International Centre with a presentation and discussion of national identity in India (February 21-22, 2011 -- New Delhi, India)
  • Obama's Asian Journey: Prospects for U.S. Policy with Deepa Ollapally, Associate Director, Sigur Center for Asian Studies; Alasdair Bowie, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs; Gregg A. Brazinsky, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs (November 17, 2010)
  • Worldviews of Aspiring Powers featuring a presentation and discussion of domestic foreign policy debates in India (November 11-12, 2010 -- Moscow, Russia)
  • Political Representation and the Maoist Insurgency in India with Emmanuel Teitelbaum, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, The George Washington University (November 11, 2010)
  • 2nd Annual Human Trafficking Symposium: Modern-Day Slavery in South Asia with Shivanna Puttaiah Survivor of Bonded Labor Slavery, Activist and Community Organizer, JEEVIKA, 2010 Free the Slaves Freedom Awards recipient; Roger Plant Consultant to the Asian Development Bank; Ginny Baumann, Free the Slaves Partnerships Director (November 10, 2010)
  • Asian Film Series: Ghajani (November 2, 2010)
  • State Capitalism and Foreign Direct Investment: Are Chinese and Indian Companies Buying up the World's Oil? with Robert Weiner, Professor of International Business & International Affairs, The George Washington University (October 22, 2010)
  • Indo-U.S. Relations: An Evolving Partnership with Ambassador Meera Shankar (October 12, 2010)
  • To Uphold the World: A Call for a New Global Ethic from Ancient India with Bruce Rich (October 6, 2010)
  • Enlightened Citizen, Righteous Citizen: A Forum with Former President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (April 18, 2010)
  • Nuclear Energy Problems in China, India and the U.S. (March 25, 2010)
  • The Strange Rise of India with Edward Luce (January 13, 2010)
  • Rising India's Great Power Burden with C. Raja Mohan (November 16, 2009)
  • Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Master of the Mohan Veena (May 7, 2009)
  • Rising India's Great Power Burden with C. Raja Mohan (November 16, 2009) Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Master of the Mohan Veena (May 7, 2009)
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