Nicholas to serve in institute’s top post

Ralph Nicholas, the William Rainey Harper Professor Emeritus in Anthropology, has been selected to serve as president-elect of the American Institute of Indian Studies and will succeed to the presidency in 2002.

The American Institute of Indian Studies is a consortium of 52 American colleges and universities that have programs of teaching and research in India. Chicago was among the universities that founded the AIIS in 1961.

Since 1972, the University has served as the U.S. headquarters. The institute also has headquarters in New Delhi and regional offices in Kolkata (Calcutta), Pune and Chennai (Madras). Most of its operations are in India, including research centers in art, archaeology and ethnomusicology.

The central activity of the AIIS is providing fellowships for graduate students and faculty from American colleges and universities to carry out research in India

The current president is Frederick Asher (Ph.D. ’71), professor in art history at the University of Minnesota.

Nicholas, a University faculty member since 1971, received his Ph.D. in anthropology at the University in 1962. His research focuses on the religious, cultural, social and economic concerns of the people in the rural societies of the Bengal region of Bangladesh.