Faculty Updates 

Ann Grodzins Gold was appointed Chair of the De-partment of Religion. She published, “Waiting for Moon-rise: Fasting, storytelling and marriage in provincial Rajasthan” in Oral Traditions (http://journal.oraltradition.org/issues/29ii/gold) and “Rural Lives and Livelihoods: Perceptions of Security in a Raja-sthan Village,” in Human and International Security in India since Independence, edited by Crispin Bates, Akio Tanabe and Minoru Mio.

Prema Kurien was the 2014-2015 Dr. Thomas Tam Visiting Professor (of Asian American Studies), CUNY Graduate Center. In 2015, she received a $ 200,000 award from the National Science Foundation for her study of Hindus and Sikhs in Canada and the United States. She published “Hinduism in North America” in Brian Hatcher (ed.), Hinduism in the Modern World (2015, Routledge). She also completed a book manuscript in 2015, Ethnic Church Meets Mega Church: Indian American Christianity in Motion, currently under final review with New York University Press.

Romita Ray has won a highly competitive fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to conduct research throughout the 2016 calendar year, for her next book project tentatively entitled, Two Leaves and A Bud: The Visual Cultures of Tea Consumption in Co-lonial and Modern India. In November 2015, she orga-nized the first illumination night at SU for which the Quad was lit up for Diwali with 1500 luminaries made by students and faculty.

Farhana Sultana published one journal article, three book chapters, and one book review in 2015. She also spearheaded a successful Maxwell 10th Decade Project grant, entitled Climate Change and Citizenship.

Cecilia VanHollen published an article in a special issue of Medical Anthropology and an Invited Blog for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In February, she represented India as a Consultant to Oxfam in Nepal. She also received Senior Short Term Research fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) to conduct research on breast cancer screening and treatment in Tamil Nadu, India (see page 2).