SAP has more than 50 core and affiliated faculty from across Cornell’s colleges and schools, working in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. SAP faculty and language instructors offer classes in Bengali, Hindi, Nepali, Pali, Persian, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sinhala, Tamil, Tibetan, and Urdu.
The SAP steering committee provides internal faculty leadership from SAP's core faculty, collaborating with the director to set goals and priorities for SAP and to develop innovative programming and curricula related to South Asia.
The SAP advisory council is composed largely of persons based outside Cornell. With the aim of making our governance structure more global, the advisory council ensures that SAP fulfills its intellectual and educational mission in a rapidly changing international context.
SAP hosts visiting scholars from South Asia and elsewhere, including Fulbright fellows, our own South Asian Studies fellows, and other scholars, writers, and artists, who collaborate with Cornell faculty and students on South Asia Program activities.
SAP awards Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships to outstanding students pursuing South Asian language and area studies. The U.S. Department of Education allocates these highly competitive four-year grants to SAP in recognition of our world-class language and area study program.
SAP staff have years of combined experience working in international studies, and they play an active role in enhancing the world's knowledge about South Asia.
Yinka Adetu is an English Language and Literature PhD candidate exploring the afterlives of colonialism, and how histories of displacement shape contemporary identities and political experiences.
Noor Ahmad Akhundzadah received his bachelor’s degree in geology from Kabul University, Master’s in Agriculture, and Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology of Japan.
Sepehra is a graduate student at Cornell’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy with interests in environmental sustainability, climate change, and agricultural policy. She is also an Environmental Finance and Impact Investing (EFII) Fellow.
Daniel Bass is the senior program manager for the South Asia Program and the Southwest Asia and North Africa Program. He also serves as an adjunct assistant professor of anthropology and Asian studies.
Kaushik Basu is the Einaudi Center's Carl Marks Professor of International Studies and professor of economics in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is is cofounder of Cornell Research Academy of Development, Law, and Economics (CRADLE), one of Einaudi's interdisciplinary research teams.
Visiting Scholar, and Former Professor, Department of Global Development
Geographic Research Area: India
Teaching/Research Interests: Population studies, reproductive health and family planning, gender and development, child health and mortality, and culture and demographic behavior
Sarah Besky is Professor of the Anthropology of Work in the Department of Global Labor & Work at the ILR School. Her research explores the intersection of inequality, nature, and capitalism in the Himalayas.
