A research paper investigating why bordering countries with settled borders engage in militarized conflicts earned a political science doctorate student the Jim Wintakes award for best graduate paper at the International Studies Association (ISA)-South Conference in Ashland, Va., recently. Karthikeyan Thiagarajan, who is pursuing his doctoral degree in security studies, won the award Oct. 13 […]
The India Center welcomed G. Gopa Kumar, Ph.D., to UCF last week. Kumar is vice chancellor of the Central University of Kerala, India. Kumar met with students and faculty to discuss issues in Indian and South Asian politics. During his presentation, Kumar highlighted that current political economy approaches to studying politics might not provide the […]
Sponsorships from the India Center at UCF opened up the opportunity for eight students to travel to India this summer and grow their filmmaking chops. Six undergraduate and two graduate film students joined film professor and Fulbright Scholar Phil Peters in Kolkata on an innovative research project conducted by The India Documentary Lab. The […]
Dr. Swati Vijay Kulkarni, the new consul general of India based in the Atlanta Consulate, visited the University of Central Florida on September 11 for an introduction to campus leadership and faculty members. Kulkarni also met with several Indian students studying and conducting research at UCF who shared their experiences with student life. “We are […]
Distinguished guests and a year of growth were recognized Saturday at the Indian American Chamber of Commerce’s 9th Annual Awards Gala. IACC President Yog Melwani addressed more than 300 entrepreneurs and business managers gathered in Orlando International Airport’s Intermodal Terminal Facility. “IACC continues to experience extraordinary growth in 2018, while building a strong presence in […]
Dean of the College of Sciences and Interim Director of the India Center Dr. Michael Johnson announced that UCF and the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have signed an agreement to cooperate on a range of research, education, and sustainability projects. The memorandum of understanding agreement was the result of an April visit to […]
This summer, UCF’s India Center had the unique opportunity to meet with two delegations of experts from India. In May, the India Center hosted a group focused on U.S.-India space policy cooperation. The visiting group included two professors, a scientist and a member of the news media. The delegation met with India Center co-chairs John […]
For alumnus Rishi Bagga, attending UCF was a last minute choice after visiting the campus with his older sister. However, majoring in political science was the obvious choice. “My first interest in politics came through my dad,” he said. “But the real kicker came when I joined my high school debate team; I loved hanging […]
The weather in Orlando was chilly during the winter break, but the UCF Debate Team continued to heat up. Not only did the team compete at the Hurricane Debates hosted by the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, some of the team also traveled to India and participated in Calcutta’s Festival of the Spoken […]
The India Center at UCF hosted an event to honor the retirement of Narsingh Deo, Ph.D., Charles N. Millican Eminent Scholar’s Chair in Computer Science and Director of the Center for Parallel Computation in the College of Computer Science and Engineering. The evening of celebration was made possible by Sharad Mehta, Anil Deshpande and Ajit […]
The India Center at UCF was honored to host Dr. Tanvi Madan in early December. Madan is a fellow for the Project on International Order and Strategy in the Foreign Policy program at The Brookings Institution, and director of The India Project. Her work explores Indian foreign policy, focusing in particular on India’s relations with […]
The India Center at UCF, housed in the Political Science Department in the College of Sciences, co-sponsored four undergraduate students to travel to India during summer 2017. The trip was organized by Phil Peters, Professor of Film and Animation in the College of Arts and Humanities. The four-week long trip to India was part of […]
A delegation representing Indian think tanks and print and broadcast media visited The India Center recently. The World Affairs Council of Central Florida facilitated the visit. John C. Bersia, UCF’s special assistant to the president for Global Perspectives and co-chair of The India Center, hosted the group, along with Amanda Fleming, the center’s senior program […]
Sunitha Natti, a senior business journalist, is a non-resident Fellow for The India Center in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida. Below, Natti provides an update on India’s economy: Nov. 8 was a historic day for the world in general, and for the United States and India in particular. If president-elect […]
Peace activist and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi Dr. Arun Gandhi has long shared his wisdom with audiences and administrators at UCF, where he advises The India Center and the Global Perspectives Office. In October, Gandhi delivered his insights in a special setting as the keynote speaker for UCF’s annual interfaith forum. He drew lessons from […]
A new collaboration between The India Center at UCF and The New Indian Express newspaper is serving to broaden awareness and understanding between the world’s two largest democracies – and providing an opportunity for writers at UCF to be seen around the world by readers of the publication. Beginning in October, articles written at UCF […]
On Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, the UCF Global Perspectives Office and The India Center at UCF hosted Somini Sengupta, a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. Sengupta discussed her book, The End of Karma: Hope and Fury among India’s Young. Sengupta emigrated from Kolkata to California as a young child in 1975. She returned […]
Robert Vogan, a senior at UCF majoring in International and Global Studies with a minor in Spanish, spent his summer as an intern in Washington, D.C. There, he contributed to efforts to fight human trafficking in India. We asked Robert to share his internship experience. During the summer of 2016, I spent ten weeks in […]
Journalists from several Indian news organizations participated in an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) visit to the Orlando area in April. The local schedule of activities was organized and facilitated by the World Affairs Council of Central Florida. Hailing from the Indian states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the journalists spent two weeks in various […]
On Saturday, April 9, 2016, the Asian Cultural Association (ACA) presented a performance by Zakir Hussain and The Masters of Percussion. The India Center at UCF was a partner in this event. The group of five musicians used a variety of northern and southern Indian percussion and melodic instruments for a Hindustani percussion performance. Several […]
Dr. Barbara Kinsey and Dr. Nikola Mirilovic of the UCF Political Science Department have conducted a research project partially funded by The India Center. The two scholars describe their project, entitled “The Impact of Diaspora Transnationalism: Migration from India to the United States,” as follows: The project examines the political, economic and cultural activities and […]
India’s former president, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, died July 27, 2015, at the age of 83. He served as India’s eleventh president from 2002 to 2007. A student of physics and aerospace engineering, Kalam was a career scientist for four decades before becoming president. He worked on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle […]
The 2015 Florida International Summit, co-hosted by UCF and FSU, focused on “Opportunities and Challenges for Human Society and Development,” and was attended by students, faculty, practitioners and community members. The summit is the annual, signature event supported by the Florida Network for Global Studies (FNGS). Through established global studies programs at various Florida universities, […]
The India Center welcomed New York Times bestselling Vivek J. Tiwary to UCF this September to speak about ethnic barriers in the arts and entertainment. The India Center congratulates Tiwary on his recent accomplishments, including being chosen as a special guest of honor at Comic Con India and recognition from the Library of Congress at […]
By: Dr. M. C. Santana, Director of Women’s Studies, UCF’s College of Arts and Humanities. I was privileged to give the keynote address at the Media, Youth and Values Conference at Holy Cross College, Tiruchirappalli, India on Nov. 27-28, 2014. Ceremony and protocol are imperative in India in events such as this one. The formality […]
At the age of 20, Rishi Bagga, ’03, graduated from UCF with a bachelor’s degree in political science, and he never thought he would use it in so many different ways. Eleven years later, the successful attorney has now worked in various fields of law, politics and hospitality. After graduating from UCF, Bagga moved to […]