Hans Henrich Hock
Professor, Linguistics, UI

In the early 1990s, a number of UI faculty began discussions about the need to supplement the University’s course offerings and research on India and South Asia in general through the creation of an India Studies Chair. The sense of urgency for creating such an institution kept increasing as the Indian-American student population at UI was growing dramatically through the 1990s—and has continued to do so into the twenty-first century (reaching some two thousand). Plans for developing an India Studies fund drive finally crystalized in 1996, as the Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies was preparing “India 50”, a series of special events to celebrate India’s fiftieth anniversary of Independence in 1997. Faculty from virtually all colleges of the university were involved in the planning, as was the UI Indian Student Association and the Indian Cultural Society of Urbana-Champaign.

The ultimate goal of the fund drive was the creation of a “rotating” India Studies Chair, an arrangement under which faculty representing different areas of interest to our students will be invited to join the University of Illinois faculty for a semester to offer courses in their areas. This arrangement will enable us to offer the greatest possible variety of courses over the four-year cycle that most undergraduates will be at UI. The emphasis will be on faculty and courses dealing with aspects of traditional and modern India that supplement courses offered at the University of Illinois, such as Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology of India, Classical Indian Music Appreciation, Indian Literary Traditions, and Indian Religious, Philosophical, and Scientific Traditions.

Beyond its obvious benefits to students of Indian ancestry, establishment of an India Studies Chair will have several other positive effects. It will enable the University of Illinois to provide better background and training for students planning on careers in U.S. businesses with interests in India. It will improve the University’s ability to provide leadership in advising business, government, and educational institutions on matters relating to India. And last, but by no means least, it will help increase awareness of India both within the University and outside.

Up to this point, financial support for the Fund has come from UI faculty and from members of the local community. While the results have been relatively modest, interest income from the Fund made it possible to establish in 2003 an India Studies Lecture series, bringing to our campus distinguished scholars, artists, and activists. Speakers sponsored under the auspices of the India Studies Fund include Romila Thapar, dean of Indian historians (2003); Sam Pitroda, who revolutionized Indian telecommunications (2004); Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, a leading exponent of Indian Classical Music (2005); and Prasant K. Ghosh, who is implementing Rabindranath Tagore’s perspectives on rural development and reconstruction (2006). In addition to their presentations, speakers are invited to engage in meetings with UI faculty and students, to give lecture demonstrations, and to teach one or two sessions in UI courses.

As the Fund grows, the scope of activities will become broader and more intensive, with the potential of more extended campus visits, workshops, or even short courses.

The ultimate goal, of course, remains the same as in 1996—to raise funds for a permanent India Studies Chair that will help increase the number and range of course offerings on India and South Asia in general and that will contribute to an increased awareness of India’s distinguished cultural heritage, its great economic achievements since Independence, and its even greater future potential as one of the world’s most powerful trading partners.

(The India Studies Fund has been established under the auspices of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Office of Development, which welcomes contributions, made out to UIF/India Studies, care of the University of Illinois Foundation, Harker Hall, MC-386, 1305 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801.)