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JHU SAIS Establishes India Advisory Group

The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) has established an advisory group called the "Friends of SAIS in India" to help promote relationships between SAIS and India.

This initiative is intended to benefit SAIS students and faculty, and to develop projects in the United States and India that broaden public understanding of the school's commitment to graduate study of the region.

On the founding of the new group, SAIS Dean Jessica P. Einhorn said: "We are so fortunate to have Sunil Khilnani, the Starr Foundation Professor of South Asia Studies, as our program director. Under his leadership, at a time of universal recognition of democratic India's potential in this century, SAIS is poised to make an important contribution in graduate education and research related to this great country. Our 'Friends' are outstanding representatives of so much of what the world admires in India."

The Friends of SAIS in India is an association of leaders in India who seek to improve the study of India at SAIS and to deepen the connection between India and SAIS students, staff and alumni through support of a long-term relationship with the school. The Friends of SAIS in India will counsel SAIS about opportunities for the school in India, advise on developments across sectors in the region and serve as informal ambassadors for school initiatives in India.

The group's support and counsel will be most critical to SAIS's South Asia Studies Program which is under the leadership of Sunil Khilnani as director and Walter Andersen as associate director. The newest addition to Asian Studies at SAIS, the program has been established to educate future experts on South Asia who will participate in the formulation and conduct of policies within and toward the region. Students at SAIS who concentrate on South Asia can expect to acquire knowledge of the region's history and political development, its social and economic conditions, its strategic environment and challenges, the interplay between regional and global circumstances, and the shifting tenor of U.S. policy toward the region. They also are expected to study either the Hindi or Urdu languages. SAIS's permanent faculty and adjunct professors are also advancing research on the region, which is being shared with the academic and policy communities through an active series of outreach events.

The following individuals are founding members of the Friends of SAIS in India:

Isher Judge Ahluwahlia, ICRIER

Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries

Scott Bayman, GE India

Ashok Ganguly, ICICIOnline

Naina Kidwai, HSBC

Farida Khambata, IFC

Sasha Mirchandani, Imercius

Nandan Nilekani, Infosys

Naresh Trehan, Escorts Heart Institute

Frank Wisner, AIG and former U.S. Ambassador to India (honorary member)

SAIS is one of the country's leading graduate schools devoted to the study of international relations. Located along Embassy Row in Washington's Dupont Circle area, the school enrolls more than 450 full-time graduate students and mid-career professionals and has trained more than 11,000 alumni in all aspects of international affairs.

 

For more information, please contact Felisa Neuringer Klubes at the SAIS Public Affairs Office at 202.663.5626 or [email protected].

Date: 
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Press Release Type: 
Contact Person: 
Felisa Neuringer Klubes
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(202) 663.5626