The Nitze School
of Advanced International Studies 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 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' South Asia Studies Program, which is under the
leadership of 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 language.
SAIS' 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 founding members of the Friends of SAIS in India
are 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; and Frank Wisner,
AIG and former U.S. ambassador to India (honorary
member).
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