FAS Discusses Dept. Renaming, Teaching Mission

Faculty members expressed favor for a proposal to rename the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies the Department of South Asian Studies as of July 1. The proposal, conceived this April, also involves incorporating faculty members from other departments in pursuit of a more interdisciplinary approach to the study of the subcontinent.

Under the reconfiguration, the department hopes to draw more scholars whose work may not have fit well under the previous department structure and maintain its emphasis on language studies.

“This represents the coming together of social science and humanities,” Anthropology Professor Arthur M. Kleinman said in support of the decision.

“It is a way of creating a stronger and broader platform for both undergraduate studies especially and for graduate studies,” said Diana L. Eck, the department’s current chair.

According to Eck, Sanskrit and Indian Studies has already started talking with professors in other areas who might work in the new department.

“I think that we have already a great number of people whose intellectual energy is gathered behind this proposal,” Eck said.

She added it is “quite clear that we certainly have the energy in this university to create a department that is worthy of the rich culture of South Asia.”

The faculty also spent significant time discussing Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith’s report on the progress of Teaching and Learning—which focuses on improving the instructional framework—in FAS.

Smith emphasized his ambition to establish the University’s reputation as an “undisputed leader in pedagogical and curricular excellence.”

“It is time again to take a big leap forward,” Smith said.

Smith addressed the Compact on Teaching and Learning, which was published in 2007, as one of the early components of this initiative.

The Compact reengineered the tenure-track faculty hiring process to include professors who had shown “research and teaching excellence” and moved to establish more communal celebrations of good teaching through, for example, award-giving.

Reporting on the project’s progress over the past three years, Smith particularly stressed developing the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences curriculum—such as instructing graduate students teaching techniques and administering English classes to graduate students.

—Staff writer Gautam S. Kumar can be reacheda at gkumar@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Sirui Li can be reached at sli@college.harvard.edu.