Business Plan - South Asia Studies Initiative

Business Plan for the
South Asian Studies 2020 Initiative
University of California, Santa Cruz
Proposed by the UC Santa Cruz Divisions of the:
Arts, Humanities, Physical and Biological Sciences, Social Sciences,
and the Jack Baskin School of Engineering
July 2009
Business Plan for the South Asian Studies 2020 Initiative
Professor Nirvikar Singh, Director
University of California, Santa Cruz
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As a major part of its South Asian Studies Initiative, the University of California, Santa Cruz
(UCSC) will endeavor to create a world class interdisciplinary research center for South Asian
Studies, building on existing campus programs, faculty and community strengths, and strategic
location within the Silicon Valley (see Appendices A, B, C, and D). The South Asian Studies
Center (SASC) will initially focus on India, one of the world’s oldest cultures and fastest
evolving economies. The SASC will address three critical research areas: business and
economic development, science and technological innovation, and arts, music, and culture (the
humanities). South Asia, led by India, is on the cusp of a major transformation, yet it will
continue to be shaped by its long history and ancient civilization. The center will provide a
rounded, comprehensive approach to the study of South Asia, focusing on the processes of and
challenges to change in the decades to come. In addition, the South Asian Studies Initiative is a
bold and ambitious effort that will, among other things, develop new educational and research
programs at the graduate and post-doctoral level. This effort is in line with the strategic academic
plan of the university which underscores the need to develop further education and research
programs that emphasize transnationalism and globalization.
Much groundwork must first be laid before the SASC can be launched. During the upcoming
academic year (2008-09), the Division of Social Sciences will sponsor a distinguished
colloquium series on South Asian Studies, with particular attention paid to India. The colloquium
series will be overseen by Professor Nirvikar Singh (Department of Economics), who presently
serves as the Director of the South Asian Studies Initiative. A number of prominent leaders and
scholars from South Asia will be invited to UCSC to lecture and answer questions on a variety of
issues. This will permit UCSC to establish closer relations with eminent South Asia business
leaders, policymakers, and researchers and their institutions, which is necessary for the long-term
success of SASC. A group of faculty from UCSC will then travel to India, and possibly other
South Asian nations, during fall 2009 to solidify these relations as well as begin new contacts
and communications with other academic institutions and research units. The SASC would then
be officially launched in spring 2010. UCSC will contribute funds to establish SASC, and it is
currently seeking a significant amount of private money to support the South Asian Studies
Initiative and maintain the center over time.
MAIN OBJECTIVE
The main objective of the bold and ambitious South Asian Studies Initiative is to develop an
interdisciplinary and highly distinguished South Asian Studies Center (SASC) at the University
of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), located in close proximity to Silicon Valley. Such a research
center will accomplish the following:
•
•
•
•
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Bring together policymakers and researchers in arts, humanities, science, social sciences,
and engineering to discuss, analyze, and provide solutions for the major problems facing
nations in South Asia, particularly India, during the twenty-first century. Additionally,
these policymakers and scholars will analyze practices in South Asian nations that might
help solve major problems facing the developed world, including the United States.
Exchange knowledge and technology between researchers in the United States and
countries in South Asia through joint workshops and colloquia to take place in both the
United States and South Asia.
Conduct interdisciplinary research on the wide variety of problems facing South Asia and
evaluate possible solutions to these problems.
Exchange faculty and graduate students between the UCSC and institutions of higher
education in India.
Facilitate the development of new and exciting courses and educational programs
addressing South Asia at UCSC.
UCSC’s research center on South Asian Studies will create interdisciplinary research
collaborations that focus on the three pillars of business and economic development, science and
technological innovation, and arts, music, and culture in South Asia, with special attention paid
to India. Together, these interdisciplinary research efforts will take into consideration past and
present conditions in India, and what they might be like in the year 2020 and beyond. The South
Asian Studies Initiative will also develop degree programs for graduate students and research
opportunities for post-doctoral fellows at UCSC. Overall, this effort reflects the desire of the
university, as outlined in its strategic academic plan, to support education and research programs
that emphasize transnationalism and globalization. This business plan provides a roadmap that
shows how the university intends to create a top ranked research center on South Asia.
CURRENT PROGRESS
The UCSC has begun laying the groundwork for the establishment of a premier research center
on South Asia (see Appendices A, B, C, and D). Recently, we conducted an analysis of existing
South Asian programs in the United States to determine the comparative advantage of our
campus and its program. The results of this extensive investigation are reported below, and they
will be used to formulate and implement the South Asian Studies Initiative strategically. At the
same time, UCSC has inaugurated a colloquium series in spring 2008, which will continue
throughout the 2008-2009 academic year. The colloquium series is entitled, “Mapping the Future
of India,” and it is being coordinated by Professor Nirvikar Singh (Department of Economics),
who also serves as the Director of the South Asian Studies Initiative in the social sciences. In
May 2008 ICC and UCSC jointly hosted a lecture by Shubhashis Gangopadhyay entitled,
“Raising the Bottom of the Pyramid” at the India Community Center in Milpitas, California. He
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received his Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University, and he has been a senior Advisor to
the Indian Finance Minister since January 2008. Due to the enormous success of this event,
UCSC has developed a Memorandum of Understanding with Vishnu Sharma, Associate
Executive Director of the ICC, to continue to co-sponsor similar lectures and forums. A number
of prominent scholars who study India have been invited to participate in the UCSC colloquium
series during the 2008-2009 academic year (and beyond). Those invited include Sunil Mittal,
Chairman, Bharti Group and President, Confederation of Indian Industry; Nicholas Stern,
Professor, London School of Economics; Siraj Hasan, Director, Indian Institute of Astrophysics;
M. Govinda Rao, Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and a member of the
Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister; C. Mohan, Chief Scientist, IBM India;
Nachiket Mor, President, ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth; Devesh Kapur, Director of the
Center for Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania; Pratap Mehta, President
and Chief Executive, Centre for Policy Research; Pankaj Chandra, Director, Indian Institute of
Management, Bangalore; Ashley Tellis, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace; and Somnath Chatterjee, Speaker of the House of the People, Indian
National Parliament. The aim of the UCSC colloquium series is to develop collaborative
relationships between UCSC and other research and educational institutions in South Asia,
including in India, and expand our reach into Silicon Valley. We plan to cultivate personal
contacts established through the colloquium series by inviting a group of UCSC faculty with
relevant knowledge and research backgrounds to visit prominent research and educational
institutions in India and possibly in other nations in the region, and reconnect with those who
participated in the colloquium series. This group visit will take place sometime in fall 2009.
The final step will be to establish the SASC in spring 2010. Organizational planning for the
center will take place prior to this date. The focus of the SASC will be informed by the analysis
of existing South Asia centers in the United States. In the longer run, the South Asian Studies
Initiative will encourage the creation and expansion of other research and educational programs,
such as a major or a minor in South Asian Studies in the History Department in the Division of
the Humanities and the development of concentrations in other academic divisions and
departments. UCSC intends to pursue the South Asian Studies Initiative, including the
establishment of the research center, in a deliberate and systematic fashion.
UCSC’S COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Most American universities that support research on Asia focus their attention primarily on
China and Japan, ignoring the significance of South Asia, including India, Pakistan, and
Bangladesh. The low priority and limited institutional funding and support given to the study of
India are particularly surprising given its strategic location and long history, as well as its
significant contributions to economic development, science and technology, and the arts and
humanities. As a former British colony, it offers interesting comparisons with the United States
in terms of the historical development of its legal and judicial system and social, political, and
economic infrastructure. Presently, India’s economic growth rivals China, and most analysts
predict that its economy will continue to expand rapidly over the next few decades. India’s
increasing importance in international politics, economics, and trade can no longer be
overlooked. Clearly, it deserves serious study.
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During the 2007-2008 academic year, Professor Nirvikar Singh conducted a comprehensive
investigation of research centers at various American universities that focus their work on South
Asia. Employing and aggregating a wide variety of indicators, such as annual budget,
institutional reputation, director’s background, number and quality of faculty, and size of
dedicated staff, the resulting report identified and ranked research centers devoted to South Asian
studies in the following way:
1. Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania
2. South Asia at Chicago, University of Chicago
3. The South Asia Initiative, Harvard University
4. South Asia Program, Cornell University
5. South Asia Institute, University of Texas at Austin
6. Center for South Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley
7. South Asian Studies Council, MacMillan Center, Yale University
8. South Asia Center, Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington
9. Southern Asia Institute, Columbia University
10. North Carolina Center for South Asian Studies, Triangle South Asia Consortium, Duke
University, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina
11. Program in South Asian Studies, Princeton Institute for International and Regional
Studies, Princeton University
12. Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin, Madison
13. Leveraging Global Resources for Innovation, Ross School of Business, University of
Michigan
14. Center for India and South Asia, University of California, Los Angeles
15. Center for South Asia, Division of International, Comparative and Area Studies,
Stanford University
16. The South Asia Center, Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, Syracuse University
17. Center for South Asian Studies, University of Virginia
As the above list shows, most of the research centers addressing South Asia are located on the
east coast. In fact, only three major centers are located on the west coast, specifically at the
University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, and Stanford
University. The center at the University of California, Berkeley focuses on language instruction
and on social and cultural topics, with some attention paid to critical economic, scientific, and
technological issues. The center at the University of California, Los Angeles, launched in 2005,
covers political economy, cinema and media studies, social anthropology, South Asian languages
and literatures, history, art-history, and musicology. The new entity at Stanford University,
started in 2006, is primarily concerned with the humanities. There is also an economics
component, however, there are no ladder-rank faculty involved in its leadership. Many of the
centers listed above have received significant government funding.
A close examination of the mission of the various centers across the United States reveals that an
overwhelming majority of them focus on cultural and language study. Very few of the centers
address issues related to business and economic development (including international finance,
water management, agroecology, and health care) and science and technological innovation
(including environmental science, climate change, and engineering). As already indicated, the
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proposed SASC at UCSC will not only address the arts and humanities as other centers across
the country already do, but it will also focus a great deal on business and economic development
along with science and technological innovation in a comprehensive and integrated fashion. For
example, a recent front page article in the New York Times highlighted India’s worsening food
shortage. The problem has become so serious that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called
for a Second Green Revolution. Such an undertaking will require combined expertise from
multiple fields, including the social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. The analysis of
other research centers across the country reveals that there is a unique opportunity for the
establishment of a new, privately funded, university-based center for South Asian studies,
particularly one with a strong Silicon Valley connection in a region (Northern California) with a
strong presence of a South Asian Diaspora.
Furthermore, there may be opportunities to explore how different values in India and the United
States have led each nation to tackle problems with education, health care, and the environment,
for example, through government intervention in varying ways. Indian and American societies
clearly embrace different ethics, morals, and cultural principles, leading to divergent societal
tensions, social problems, and divergent policies. As an interdisciplinary research center, SASC
will be in an excellent position to explore how each nation has tried to address these issues as
well as investigate what has worked and what has not and why.
UCSC is well positioned to develop research and education programs on South Asia and
particularly India. Each of its five divisions has current active research or educational programs
that focus on the region. For example:
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Members of the international economics faculty in the Division of Social Sciences have
been studying trends in India’s economic development, trade, and domestic marketplace.
These and other social science faculty support the Global Economics undergraduate
interdisciplinary major. The Santa Cruz Center for International Economics and the
Center for Global, International and Regional Studies have held three successful
conferences on the economies of India and China. Furthermore, the Center for
Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, the Program in Community and
Agroecology, and the Center for Integrated Water Research are already well situated to
study crop development, food production, and water policy in India and other nations in
South Asia.
•
As part of the Silicon Valley Initiative, UCSC is working to establish networks and
collaborative arrangements with South Asian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley as well as
business leaders in India. Professor Nirvikar Singh has been asked to take the lead in a
campus initiative to develop a new School of Management, which will be located in
Silicon Valley.
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Faculty in the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences are conducting research in
areas critical to South Asia’s future, including arsenic pollution in groundwater,
environmental pathogens such as cholera, and the effect of global climate change on
environments and populations in low-lying coastal areas.
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•
In the Baskin School of Engineering, important work is being done on storage systems
and databases, VLSI design and test, electronic design automation (EDA), global services
management, and engineering. Chairs in these areas have been awarded in storage
systems by Kumar Malavalli and optoelectronics by Narinder Kapany. Certain faculty,
particularly in Technology & Information Management (TIM), have been invited by
senior leaders in California, executives in leading Indian firms and government, and the
Presidents of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT) to help with several research and education initiatives.
•
The Division of Humanities supports the internationally renowned Satyajit Ray Film
Archive and the annual Siddhartha Maitra Memorial Lecture, which brings prominent
Indian intellectuals to campus (including Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, and authors
Vikram Seth and Pico Iyer). Also, the division is currently seeking to fill an endowed
chair in Sikh and Punjabi Studies.
•
The Division of the Arts already has two endowments for South Asian music, the first in
honor of Ali Akbar Khan, who in 1999, was appointed to the position of Distinguished
Adjunct Professor of Music at UCSC. More recently, the Kamil and Talat Hasan Chair in
Indian Classical Music, the first of its kind in the United States, was endowed, and a
state-funded professorship was created. The Arts Division also supports courses in studio
art, the history of art and visual culture, film, and dance of South Asia.
The examples above indicate the extensive intellectual and practical engagement UCSC has with
South Asia, spanning the areas of business and economic development, science and
technological innovation, and arts, music, and culture (see Appendices C and D).
SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES CENTER PROPOSAL
Research on Business and Economic Development
Over the next several decades, India has the potential to become a truly global economic power.
It already is developing cutting edge capabilities in sectors such as information technology (IT),
IT enabled services, and financial services. At the same time, a significant segment of India’s
population, particularly in rural areas, remains unskilled and impoverished. Understanding and
positively engaging India’s (and all of South Asia’s) pattern of development constitutes a
research agenda of critical global importance.
After the new center is established, faculty will be hired in the social sciences with expertise in
areas such as Indian rural development, economic growth, finance, and various public policy
issues including national security, water resources, environmental sustainability, governance,
education, and health care. The domestic markets of countries in South Asia and how they are
interrelated will be a major focus. India’s role in globalization and trade, and its ability to leap
frog technological systems, in particular, will be closely studied by the SASC.
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Research on Science and Technological Innovation
Development throughout South Asia is threatened by limited access to adequate clean water, the
persistence of disease in poor areas, and rising pollution and waste disposal challenges associated
with rapid industrialization, all of which are areas of existing expertise in the excellent biology
and environmental toxicology programs at UCSC. The SASC will closely study these problems
and work with research institutions in India to develop responses to these fundamental
challenges. Scientists in applied mathematics and statistics, earth and ocean sciences, and
biology also have a strong interest in the effect of global climate change on coastal environments
and populations. Changing temperature and rainfall patterns will also have critical effects on
agriculture and water supplies throughout the region. These problems are complex and inherently
require multidisciplinary approaches. The SASC could play a unique and valuable role by
organizing scientists, engineers, social scientists, and applied policy experts into interdisciplinary
groups focused on these region-level concerns.
Research on Arts, Music, and Culture
In order to leverage Title VI Department of Education funds, faculty will be hired to cover at
least three South Asian languages and expand our existing language program in the humanities,
which already offers instruction in Hindi/Urdu. (Possible additional languages include Punjabi,
Tamil, Telegu, and perhaps Bengali, although there is already a successful Bengali program at
the University of California, Berkeley, which we would be reluctant to replicate but with which
we could profitably partner.) In addition, the university will attempt to hire faculty in Indian
literature, history, and women’s studies.
Finally, the SASC will include faculty who study Indian art, art history, film, digital media,
dance, and theater. Given the past and present importance of Indian film, the SASC will build on
the work of UCSC’s Satyajit Ray Film and Study Collection, which constitutes a rare archive of
the famed director’s films, writings, and memorabilia, already located at UCSC and curated by
Professor Dilip Basu. Plans will include recruiting a faculty member specializing in Indian media
and a film festival highlighting the evolution of Indian film and, in particular, the seminal work
of Satyajit Ray.
Extending SASC’s Reach: Opportunities for Collaborations and Partnerships
All of the SASC research efforts will include new partnership opportunities with regional
organizations dedicated to the preservation and promotion of South Asian economic, business,
and cultural interests. UCSC has developed strong relationships with the India Community
Center (ICC) and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE). Professor Singh presently serves on the
speakers series advisory board for ICC, and he will work with the ICC to co-sponsor talks with
the colloquium series supported by the Division of Social Sciences. (He also serves on the
Economic Forum Advisory Board for TIE). The SASC will actively seek joint programs that
promote the exchange of intellectual, economic, and scientific knowledge with new audiences
throughout Silicon Valley, including NASA/AMES. Finally, SASC may want to partner with
national independent research organizations, such as the Brookings Institution, on projects
addressing South Asia.
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The selection of a highly distinguished and widely respected center director will be crucial in
ensuring that the center’s various activities are coordinated, and its overall mission is carried out.
Such an individual will be skilled at fostering collaborative research involving scholars from
diverse fields and working with academics and non-academics alike. In addition to being a
competent administrator and renown scholar, the center director will be actively engaged with
the South Asian community in Northern California. He or she must also have a solid track record
in obtaining government grants for conducting large, interdisciplinary research projects.
An equally important function of the SASC will be to facilitate technological and scientific
sharing between UCSC and the South Asian scientific community. Marine science, electrical
engineering, global services management and engineering, storage systems, and nanotechnology
are all areas of great mutual interest in which UCSC researchers in science and engineering
desire to build strong collaborations and international programs with institutions in India and
elsewhere in South Asia. UCSC faculty are already building collaborations with leading global
firms such as IBM, Infosys, and Cisco, which all have a strong South Asian presence. The SASC
will help amplify these efforts, as well as support joint Indo-American forums, and encourage
faculty research in these areas. The School of Engineering has already committed several faculty
slots to the field of knowledge sciences and services, which is particularly relevant to these
business/research ties.
In addition to sponsoring a variety of research projects, the SASC will help facilitate student
exchanges between universities in India and UCSC. The center will be a place for students to
gather and hear lectures on a broad range of topics across different disciplines. UCSC already
attracts a fair number of graduate students from South Asia in different disciplines, and new
funding will make it possible to bring even more students from South Asia to UCSC. Once
enough faculty are hired to form a core of South Asian scholars, the university will establish
degree programs in South Asian studies as part of its broader South Asian Studies Initiative.
RESOURCES ALREADY INVESTED
The Division of Social Sciences is underwriting the first steps toward the creation of the SASC.
Specifically, during the 2007-2008 academic year, the division provided funds to hire a graduate
student research assistant to work on the market analysis for the new center and to assist in
organizing the colloquium series. The division is also providing release time for Professor Singh
to direct the colloquium series. Stephen Bruce, a successful UCSC alumni and Chair of the
Board of Councilors for the division, has funded the colloquium series, including the travel
expenses and honoraria for the guest speakers, most of them coming from South Asia, the
receptions following their presentations, and miscellaneous expenses. The budget for these
expenses appears below. A faculty advisory committee comprised of representatives from the
different divisions on campus has been created to assist Professor Singh in identifying potential
speakers and organizing the lectures (see Appendix B). Various departments and research centers
across the campus will be invited to co-sponsor certain guest speakers for a modest fee. Money
to fund a group of faculty to visit India and possibly other nations in South Asia, a necessary step
prior to establishing the SASC, will be provided by private individuals.
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BUDGET FOR THE 2007-08 AND 2008-09 ACADEMIC YEARS
Funded by the Division of Social Sciences, UCSC:
Staff assistance
A graduate student research assistant for two quarters
Course release time for Professor Nirvikar Singh
Subtotal
$25,000
$15,000
$19,500
$59,500
Funded by Stephen Bruce, Chair, Board of Councilors for
Division of Social Sciences:
Honoraria for five colloquium speakers (5 x $2,000)
Travel and lodging for five colloquium speakers
Receptions for all colloquium speakers
Miscellaneous expenses
Subtotal
Grand Total
$10,000
$25,000
$ 4,000
$ 1,000
$40,000
$99,500
RESOURCES REQUIRED
Although UCSC will continue to provide financial support for the South Asian program, creation
of a prominent center for South Asian studies will require significant private and grant funding
for the continued development of the program. The SASC is intended to be an interdisciplinary,
multifaceted research center, thus many of these efforts will involve faculty from a variety of
disciplines both within and between the various academic divisions. Ideally, a major endowment
for the center will underpin the ongoing development and operation of the center. In addition,
given the limited funding opportunities for research and educational programs on India,
specifically, it will be necessary to raise endowment for faculty chairs, graduate student
scholarships, post-doctoral fellows, exchange students, and a major film festival. Such funding
will allow the SASC to attract first class scholars and excellent students as well as plan ahead as
it evolves over time. The strength of the faculty and breadth of academic endeavors will enhance
the ability of faculty to pursue and win external contracts and grants that will fund long-term
research on South Asia, including India.
UCSC LEADERSHIP AND COMMITMENT TO THE SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES CENTER
To encourage success of the center, the university is prepared to commit tenure track faculty
positions to this initiative to leverage the private support that will be necessary. These faculty
positions could be distributed throughout the divisions to increase the participation of all the
academic units and promote a unified effort across campus. A faculty position will also be set
aside for the director of the center.
UCSC has the commitment of its top leaders to develop a research center for South Asian
Studies. Building on two trips to India by our past chancellor and several of our deans, a
colloquium series sponsored by the Division of Social Sciences, and a trip to India and other
South Asian nations by UCSC faculty in fall 2009, this initiative includes broad support and
engagement of the top academic leadership at the university, including all five academic deans
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and the Chancellor, George Blumenthal and the Executive Vice Chancellor and Campus Provost,
David Kliger. Anuradha Luther Maitra is a former President of the UCSC Foundation and is now
an active member in the organization. The Foundation is also fortunate to have strong leadership
from prominent Indo-Americans on its board, including Ramesh Bhojwani, Kamil Hasan,
Narinder Kapany, Kumar Malavalli, and Kiran Malhotra. Together, this powerful partnership is
committed to ensuring the success of the SASC in particular, and the South Asian Studies
Initiative in general.
TIMELINE AND BENCHMARKS FOR ASSESSMENT
UCSC’s primary objective is to create a research center that is ranked among the top five South
Asian research centers in the nation by 2020 and perhaps earlier. The timeline and benchmarks
for achieving this goal is laid out in the table at the end of this document. As the table indicates,
the University of California, Santa Cruz developed a white paper on the South Asian Studies
Initiative in 2007. The white paper outlines the vision of the initiative, including the concept for
the SASC. In addition, funding for the colloquium series has been secured and the series has
already been launched. In fall 2009 a group of UCSC faculty will travel to India and, funding
permitting, to other South Asian nations to establish new relationships, and solidify others,
forged through the colloquium series. Approximately $80,000 in private funds will be raised to
cover all travel costs for each faculty member.
Once a core network of business leaders, policymakers, and researchers in South Asia, and in
India in particular, has been formed, an advisory committee for both the South Asian Studies
Initiative and SASC will be created in Winter 2010. The members of the advisory committee will
be charged with designing the organizational and funding structure for the South Asian Studies
Center, writing the job description for the new director of the center, and assisting in locating
office space at UCSC for the initiative and center. A nationwide search for the director of SASC
will commence in Fall 2010 and may take two years to complete. At the same time, the
university will seek $3 million to endow the position and another $5 million to name the SASC.
A portion of the endowment to name the SASC will be used to fund a major Indian film festival.
Once the new director is in place, the university will begin to recruit six faculty members who
have expertise on various facets of South Asia. Two faculty will be recruited in each of the
following three areas: business and economic development, science and technological
innovation, and arts, music, and culture (including language). By the time the hiring process
begins, the university will have raised all or part of the funding necessary to endow a total of six
chairs, $2 million for each chair. The new faculty will have joint appointments between a
department in an academic division and the SASC.
Once all or at least most of the faculty have been hired, an effort to expand current educational
opportunities and develop new degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate level will
begin. At the same time, the university will seek to raise about $3 million in endowment for
undergraduate and graduate scholarships. Foreign students must pay a much higher fee than instate residents to attend the University of California, and such an endowment will be important to
attract students who reside in other countries, especially in South Asia.
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The university will provide a significant amount of financial support for the development of the
South Asian Studies Initiative and, especially, the SASC. In addition to the considerable amount
of funding that has already been allocated and was discussed above, the university will provide
substantial staff support, office space, computers and equipment, and overhead to support the
operation of the South Asian Studies Initiative and the SASC. In addition, the university is
prepared to provide the faculty lines that are necessary to employ the new director of SASC as
well as hire the six new faculty members discussed above. The endowment created for the
director and new faculty chairs will be used to support their ongoing research and efforts to
network nationally and internationally as well as pursue large grants and contracts. Such support
will translate into about $2 million in start-up funding from the university. The six new faculty
lines represent an on-going commitment from the university that amounts to over $500,000 each
year.
CONCLUSION
The main purpose of this business plan was to discuss how the University of California, Santa
Cruz, as a major part of its South Asian Studies Initiative, intends to create a world class
interdisciplinary research center for South Asian Studies. UCSC will build on existing campus
programs and faculty strengths to achieve this goal (see Appendices A, B, C, and D). The South
Asian Studies Center will mainly focus on India, one of the world’s oldest cultures and fastest
evolving economies. The SASC will address three critical research areas: business and
economic development, science and technological innovation, and arts, music, and culture
(including language). South Asia, led by India, is on the cusp of a major transformation, yet it
will continue to be shaped by its long history and ancient civilization. The center will provide a
rounded, comprehensive approach to the study of South Asia, focusing on the processes of and
challenges to change in the decades to come. In addition, the South Asian Studies Initiative will
develop new educational programs. By 2020 and possibly earlier, UCSC will have a research
center that is ranked among the top five South Asian research centers in the nation.
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Timeline and Benchmarks for the Development of the
South Asian Studies Initiative at the University of
California, Santa Cruz, 2007-2020
Action Plans
Year
Goals
Private Funding
Targets
None
Develop White
Paper on South
Asian Studies
Initiative
2007
Outline vision of
South Asian Studies
Initiative, including
the South Asian
Studies Center
Launch a
colloquium series on
South Asia along
with new web site
Fall 2008ÆSpring
2009
$40,000
UCSC faculty travel
to India and possibly
other South Asian
nations to establish
new relationships,
and solidify others,
developed through
the colloquium
series
Fall 2009
Create advisory
committee; design
organizational and
funding structure for
the South Asian
Studies Center;
develop job
description for new
center director;
locate office space at
UCSC
Winter/Spring 2010
Establish close
relations with
eminent South Asian
business leaders,
policymakers, and
researchers and their
institutions
Create a core
network of contacts
in South Asia,
particularly India, to
promote and support
the South Asian
Studies Initiative
and especially the
South Asian Studies
Center
Create necessary
organizational and
financial profile for
the South Asian
Studies Initiative
and new research
center
Search for new
research center
director commences
Fall 2010ÆSpring
2012
Raise private funds
Beginning Fall 2010
Benchmarks
Reach university
agreement on
concept of South
Asian Studies
Initiative and South
Asian Studies Center
Reach agreement
with those who will
participate in the
colloquium series;
web site becomes
operational
$80,000
The formation of a
core network of
business leaders,
policymakers, and
researchers in South
Asia and particularly
India
None
Advisory committee
members are
selected and begin to
meet; organizational
and funding
framework is
established;
job description for
new center director
is accepted by
UCSC; office space
is located
Select director of the
South Asian Studies
Center
$3 million
endowment for new
director
Raise private money
to name the research
center
$5 million
endowment
The hiring of a
prominent researcher
to oversee and
manage the research
center
A naming gift for the
center is secured
12
Action Plans
Year
Goals
Hire six new faculty
in business and
economic
development,
science and
technological
innovation, and arts,
music, and culture
(including language)
Once new director is
in placeÆ2016
Development of new
degree programs at
the graduate level;
begin efforts to
attract and fund
post-doctoral fellows
Once new director
and faculty are in
placeÆ2020
Hire new faculty to
build on existing
strengths in South
Asia and add new
strengths; they will
have joint
appointments
between departments
across divisions and
the research center
Expand educational
opportunities and
course of study
regarding South
Asia, including India
13
Private Funding
Targets
$12 million
endowment for 6
chairs, $2 million
per chair
$3 million for
graduate student
scholarships and
post-doctoral
fellowships
Benchmarks
Six faculty chairs are
hired and join
UCSC; they begin to
obtain large
government grants
for specific
interdisciplinary
research projects
New degree
programs are
approved by the
university and
students enroll; postdoctoral fellows join
UCSC
Appendix A
UC Santa Cruz: Committed to the Study of South Asia
UC Santa Cruz is the main campus of the University of California system dedicated to serving the needs of Silicon Valley, including the
vibrant South Asian diaspora that has contributed to the region’s innovations and economic growth. An important aspect of the campus's
educational mission is a vision of creating a major new South Asia Studies Center with global visibility, contributing to understanding not
only South Asia’s priceless heritage, but also its future trajectory. The center will focus particularly on India’s new role as a leading participant in the world economy, including its emergence as a source of management expertise, entrepreneurship, capital, and innovation.
Plans for the center are under way, building on a solid foundation that includes major existing initiatives and a powerful partnership with
the region’s South Asian community. The building blocks in place include:
R Five endowed chairs for the study of South Asian issues, or funded by community donors:
XThe Kamil and Talat Hasan Chair in Indian Classical Music
XThe Ali Akbar Khan Endowment for Indian Classical Music
XThe Sarabjit Singh Aurora Chair in Sikh and Punjabi Studies
XThe Kumar Malavalli Chair in Storage Systems
XThe Narinder Singh Kapany Chair in Optoelectronics
R The internationally renowned Satyajit Ray Film Archive, which has the most comprehensive
collection of the master director’s works, in film and other media, and which is working to preserve this unique cultural heritage for future generations.
R The annual Siddhartha Maitra Memorial Lecture, which brings to campus prominent Indian
intellectuals such as Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen and author Vikram Seth.
R Four successful conferences on the economies of India and China, including one of the
earliest major U.S. conferences on Indian economic reform, and investigations of the role of
information technology, innovation, and outsourcing in India’s economic development, held in
Silicon Valley.
R Major research projects across all fields, including support from existing research cen-
ters such as the Santa Cruz Center for International Economics and the Center for Global,
International, and Regional Studies:
XProjects on economic reform, governance, inequality, capital flows, and India’s integration in the global economy
XScientific research in areas critical to South Asia’s future, including groundwater pollution, environmental pathogens, and the effect of global climate change on environments and populations in low-lying coastal areas
XIn the Baskin School of Engineering, work on storage systems and databases, VLSI design, and global services management
R Existing educational offerings in South Asia studies, including language, music, history, culture, film, and dance, as well as plans for a
graduate management school in Silicon Valley with linkages to India and to Asia more generally.
R Strong collaborations, partnerships, and commitment:
XFaculty links with The Indus Entrepreneurs and India Community Center
XFaculty links with IITs, Indian Institute of Science, and many major research institutions in India for educational partnerships and research collaborations, including efforts supported by California’s state government
XInvolvement of a number of prominent Indo-Americans in the UCSC Foundation
XCommitment of top leadership, including trips to India by our past chancellor and several deans
XA major new externally funded social sciences colloquium series, “Mapping the Future of India,” being launched in 2008
Appendix B
External Advisory Group
Stephen Bruce
Talat Hasan
Kamil Hasan
Mark Headley
Narinder Kapany
Inderjit Kaur
Anuradha Luther Maitra
Kumar Malavalli
Arjun Malhotra
Kiran Malhotra
Nirvikar Singh
The academic deans:
Sheldon Kamieniecki, Social Sciences
Stephen Thorsett, Physical and Biological
Sciences
Arthur Ramirez, Jack Baskin School of
Engineering
Georges Van Den Abbeele, Humanities
David Yager, Arts
Faculty Advisory Group
Ram Akella, Professor of Information Systems and Technology Management
UC Silicon Valley Center/Santa Cruz
Anjali Arondekar, Associate Professor of Feminist Studies
Dilip Basu, Associate Professor of History and Director of Satyajit Ray Film and Study
Center (FASC)
Puragra (Raja) Guhathakurta, Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomer, UC Observatories/Lick Observatory (UCO/Lick), and
Associate Chair of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Darrell Long, Professor of Computer Science and Kumar Malavalli Endowed Professor
of Storage Systems Research at the University of California, Santa Cruz
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and Director of the Storage Systems
Research Center in the Jack Baskin School of Engineering
Paul Lubeck, Professor of Sociology and Associate
Director of the Center for Global, International and Regional Studies (CGIRS), including
the Global International Internship Program (GIIP)
Dard Neuman. Assistant Professor of Music, and
the Kamil and Talat Hasan Endowed Chair in Classical Indian Music
Don Smith, Professor of Environmental Toxicology, Director Smith Lab
Nirvikar Singh, Professor of Economics, Director of the South Asia Studies Initiative
Appendix C
Faculty and Professional Interests
Pranav Anand, Assistant Professor of Linguistics
Formal semantics, theoretical syntax
Anjali Arondekar, Associate Professor of Feminist Studies
South Asian studies, colonial historiography; feminist theories; queer theory; critical
race studies; nineteenth century interdisciplinary studies
Gopal Balakrishnan, Associate Professor of History of Consciousness
Classics of political thought from Plato to Rousseau; early modern and modern
European intellectual history; historical sociology; the history and future of capitalism,
nationalism, geopolitics
Dilip K. Basu, Associate Professor of History, Director, Ray Film and Study Collection
Modern South Asia, modern China, world history: colonial and post-colonial, film and
visual culture
Raoul Birnbaum, Professor and Patricia and Rowland Rebele Endowed Chair in History
of Art and Visual Culture
Buddhist studies, especially Chinese practices from medieval times to the present;
religion and visual culture in China
Donald Brenneis, Professor of Anthropology
Linguistic anthropology, folklore, legal anthropology, ethnomusicology, overseas
Indians, South Asia, disputing and dispute management, legal language, bureaucratic
institutions
Edmund Burke III, Professor of History
Islamic history, modern Middle East and North African history, French history,
European imperialism, world history
Vilashini Cooppan, Assistant Professor of Literature
Postcolonial studies, comparative and world literature, literatures of slavery and
diaspora, globalization studies, cultural theory of race and ethnicity
Ben Crow, Associate Professor of Sociology
International development, sociology of water and markets, global inequality, South Asia
and East Africa, political economy, and green enterprise
Shelly Errington, Professor of Anthropology
Globalization of images and arts, media and documentary discourses in the context of
power, arts and their markets, the construction of national imaginaries and narratives in
public spaces
Appendix C
M. Kathleen Foley, Professor of Theater Arts
Asian theater, Southeast Asian studies, performance studies, maskwork, puppetry,
multicultural theater
Aashish Khan, Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Music
North Indian classical music
Mythili Kumar, Lecturer in Theatre Arts
Bharata Natyam, history and practice of Indian dance
Fredric Lieberman, Professor of Music
Ethnomusicology; composition; the music industry and legal/ethical issues; American
vernacular musics; musics of East, Southeast, and South Asia
Paul M. Lubeck, Professor of Sociology
Political sociology, political economy of development, globalization, labor and work,
logics of methodology, religion and social movements, Islamic society and identities,
information and networks
Boreth Ly, Assistant Professor in History of Art and Visual Culture
Visual cultures of Southeast and South Asia
John Mock, Lecturer in Hindi & Urdu
Language pedagogy, Hindi and Urdu fiction, Urdu poetry, languages and cultures of
Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan, orality and literacy, discourse analysis, areal
linguistics
Dard Neuman, Assistant Professor of Music, Kamil and Talat Hasan Endowed Chair in
Classical Indian Music
Ethnomusicology; Hindustani music; colonialism, nationalism, technology and
performance; sitar
Annapurna Pandey, Lecturer in Anthropology
Religions of India; womens organizations and resistance movements in India; and
Indians in the Bay Area, the study of their religious practices, and identity in the
diaspora
Triloki Nath Pandey, Professor of Anthropology
Native peoples of North America, cultures of India, political anthropology,
anthropological theories and comparison
S. Ravi Rajan, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
Environmental history and political ecology, risk and disaster studies, science and
technology studies, North-South environmental conflicts, environmental social theory,
environmental ethics
Appendix C
Vanita Seth, Assistant Professor of Politics
Modern political theory; political movements; feminist theory, history, and practice
Nirvikar Singh, Professor of Economics
Industrial organization, political economy, economic development, technology and
innovation, South Asian immigrants in the U.S.
Undang Sumarna, Lecturer in Music
The study of Javanese gamelan performance
Megan Thomas, Assistant Professor of Politics
Political theory, culture and identity, comparative colonialism, nationalist thought,
nineteenth-century thought, Orientalism, Southeast Asia
Appendix D
Courses That Address Issues Related to South Asia Offered at the University of
California, Santa Cruz:
•
Gender and Subaltern Studies (Associate Professor Anjali Arondekar)
•
History of Pre-modern India, Traditional India, Cinema and History: Film Author
Satyajit Ray, Comparative Studies in Modern Asian History, Political and Social
History of Modern South Asia (Dilip K. Basu, Associate Professor of History,
Director, Ray Film and Study Collection)
•
Buddhist Visual Worlds (Raoul Birnbaum, Professor and Patricia and Rowland
Rebele Endowed Chair in History of Art and Visual Culture)
•
Nature, Poverty and Progress: Dilemmas of Environment and Development, Hunger
and Famine, Sociology of Water (Ben Crow, Associate Professor of Sociology)
•
Asian Theater, Pacific Rim Film (M. Kathleen Foley, Professor of Theater Arts)
•
Indian Dance (Mythili Kumar, Lecturer in Theater Arts)
•
Globalization, Information and Social Change (Paul M. Lubeck, Professor of
Sociology)
•
Elementary through intermediate Hindi (John Mock, Lecturer in Hindi & Urdu)
•
India and Indian Diaspora through Films, Anthropology of Religion, Women in
Politics: A Third World perspective, Anthropology of Hinduism (Annapurna Devi
Pandey, Lecturer in Anthropology)
•
Cultures of India (Triloki Nath Pandey, Professor of Anthropology)
•
Political Ecology and Social Change, An Introduction to World Environmental
History (S. Ravi Rajan, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies)
Other courses with contain specific South Asian content which are offered in many
departments and taught by staff, include:
•
American Studies 127A: Aspects of Asian American Studies, content selected topics
in culture, religion, music, film, art
•
American Studies 127B: Asian America: Contemporary Issues, content social,
economic and political issues in the U.S. and globally
•
American Studies 127E: Asian American Women, content intersections of race, class
and gender from a women centered perspective
Appendix D
•
American Studies 127G: Asian Americans in Films and Videos, content history and
presence of Asian Americans on screen, technical production
•
Anthropology 129: Other Globalizations: Cultures and Histories of Interconnection
•
Feminist Studies 80F: Feminisms of/and the Global South, content feminist theories
from domestic U.S. and global contexts in order to ask how interventions of women of
color in the U.S. and of radical feminist movements in non-U.S. locations radically
re-imagine feminist politics.
•
Film & Digital Media 132A: International Cinema to 1960, content developments in
narrative film outside of Hollywood to 1960
•
Film & Digital Media 132B: International Cinema, 1960 to Present, content
developments in narrative film outside of Hollywood from 1961 to present
•
History of Art and Visual Culture 105 E: Ritual in Asian Religious Art
•
History of Art and Visual Culture 160: Storytelling in Asian Art
•
History of Consciousness 232A: Third World Feminisms and Globalization, content
feminist concepts from a third world viewpoint
•
Music 180A: Studies in World Music: Asia and the Pacific
•
Philosophy 176: Indian Philosophy, content Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita
•
Politics 156: Asian Women in Politics
•
Sociology 131: World hunger and Population Growth, content causes and
consequences of population growth and food supply