India | Asian Studies Center

Vibha-Shetiya

Given Name:

Vibha

Family Name:

Shetiya

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Rank:

Instructor

Department:

Linguistics

Office:

Regional specialty:

India

Email Address:

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Shalini-Ayyagari

Given Name:

Shalini

Family Name:

Ayyagari

Photograph:

Rank:

Assistant Professor

Department:

Music

Office:

207 Music Building

Office phone number:

412-624-4196

Regional specialty:

South Asia

India

Pakistan

Email Address:

sayyagari@pitt.edu

Area of specialization:

South Asia; regional music of India and Pakistan; Islam in South Asia; subaltern studies; postcolonial studies; development studies; ethnography; film studies; Bollywood film.

Qualifications:

PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Publications:

“Lesser-known Music from North India and Pakistan.” UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music. Guest Blog Album Review (Week 16). 2014.

“At Home in the Studio: The Sound of Manganiyar Music Going Popular.” In More than Bollywood: Studies in Indian Popular Music. Bradley Shope and Gregory Booth, eds. New York: Oxford University Press. 2013: 256-75.

Balwant-Dixit

Given Name:

Balwant

Family Name:

Dixit

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Rank:

Professor Emeritus

Department:

Pharmacy

Office:

559 Salk Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261

Office phone number:

(412) 648-8582

Regional specialty:

South Asia

India

Email Address:

bdixit@pitt.edu

Region:

South Asia

Area of specialization:

Therapeutic effectiveness of indigenous medical herbal preparations

Biography:

Balwant Narayan Dixit was born in a small village in India. After completing his high school education in 1949, he entered Fergusson College in Pune. His goal was to become a physician. His plans changed, however, when, in 1949 his father died suddenly. He instead trained as a custom tailor to help support his education. While running his own business, he earned two B.S. degrees–one in biology and one in industrial chemistry, followed by an M.S. degree in biochemistry. Dixit then accepted a position as a research assistant in pharmacology at Baroda Medical College. For six years he worked with a team of investigators evaluating the therapeutic effectiveness of several indigenous medical herbal preparations. Dixit continued his education and was awarded an M.S. degree in Pharmacology. Dixit came to the University of Pittsburgh as an International Fellow in Pharmacology and after completing his Ph. D. in 1965 was appointed assistant professor.  With subsequent promotions, in 1973 he was selected to chair the Department of Pharmacology.  During his two-year tenure (1976-78) as the Interim Dean of the School of Pharmacy, Dixit reorganized programs in the School of Pharmacy and established the Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutics, as well as a program in Clinical Pharmacokinetics, a Drug Information Center, and a full service pharmacy in the Student Health Service. Dixit has also served as Associate Dean for graduate studies and research, Director of Affirmative Action, Director of the Animal Care Facilities and Director of Continuation Education in the School of Pharmacy. The faculty and the alumni of the School of Pharmacy selected Dixit for its Distinguished Alumnus Award. After 50 years of service at the University of Pittsburgh School Of Pharmacy, on January 31, 2013, Dixit retired as professor of pharmacology. Dixit has been active in university governance and has served on numerous school wide and university wide committees.  He was elected to the Faculty Assembly, the University Senate Council and the University Graduate Studies Council; currently he is an elected member of the Senate Budget Policies Committee, and it’s past Secretary.  Since his college years, Dixit had a strong interest in the performing arts, and soon after his arrival in Pittsburgh in 1962 he was instrumental in establishing the India Association of Pittsburgh. Then in 1985, Dixit coordinated all classical music programs for the Festival of India in U.S.A. Subsequently, Dixit established the Center for the Performing Arts of India (CPAI) as an exchange agreement between the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the University of Pittsburgh. Since then, each year the Center invited leading Indian classical musicians who visited various universities and colleges throughout the United States to present concerts, workshops and lecture demonstrations. The Center became nationally recognized for the quality of its programs and its organization. Since its inception CPAI organized some 80 concert tours and presented over 1,800 performances of Indian classical music at numerous venues, including more than 70 universities and colleges throughout USA and Canada.  Dixit has been able to raise an amount close to 2 million dollars to support the activities of CPAI.  CPAI has no staff and it is an entirely as a voluntary effort.   Dixit receives no financial compensation from anyone or any organization for his work as the Director of CPAI. For his work in promoting the performing arts of India, Dixit has received the following awards: (1) Distinguished Service Award of the Asian Studies Program of the University of Pittsburgh, (2) Pride of India Award of the Indian American Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, presented by the Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh, (3) Lifetime Recognition Award presented by the University of Nebraska organization RAAG, (4) the title of Kala Vipanchee, presented by Padmavibhushan Balmuralikrishna, at a special function held at the Madras Music Academy in 1999, (5) Award of Excellence presented by the Brihan Maharashtra Mandal of North America at their national convention at Calgary, Canada in 2001, (6) Chhandayan Jyotsna Award presented by Chhandayan of New York in 2005, (7) Seva Rathna Award(Distinguished Service Award), presented on April 15, 2006, by Bhairavi Fine Arts Society of USA at the 29th Thyagaraja Music Festival, Cleveland, OH. (8) Lifetime Recognition Awardfor the promotion of Indian classical music throughout USA & Canada, presented in 2007 byBasant Bahar, a premier cultural organization located in Bay Area (California). Dixit has conducted a study on the “Performance Related Injuries by Indian instrumental musicians.”  His current interest is in investigating and understanding the scope of, "Mental Illness, Alcoholism and Substance Abuse in Indian Immigrants to North America." As well as studying “Retirement Options for Indian Immigrants to USA.”

Patrick-Beckhorn

Given Name:

Patrick

Family Name:

Beckhorn

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Rank:

Graduate Student

Department:

Anthropology

Regional specialty:

Asia

South Asia

India

Email Address:

pwb5@pitt.edu

Region:

South Asia, India

Area of specialization:

labor, migration, and gender in South Asia

Staff Title:

Graduate Student

Biography:

Professor Patrick Beckhorn is a graduate student at the University of PIttsburgh Department of Anthropology whose studies focus on labor, migration, and gender in South Asia, specifically India.  He focuses on cycle rickshaw pullers in Delhi and North India.  His interests of study are in migrant support networks, different scales and experiences of time regarding migration patterns,  the relationship between circular migration and masculinity in India, and anarchic elements of informal laborers' social organization.

Vijai P.-Singh

Given Name:

Vijai P.

Family Name:

Singh

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Rank:

Professor

Department:

Sociology

Office:

2607 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Office phone number:

412-624-7563

Regional specialty:

South Asia

India

Email Address:

singh@pitt.edu

Area of specialization:

Sociology of Science; Inequality; Scientific Innovations and Economic Transformation; Urban Policy; Comparative Study of the Processes of Production of Scientific Knowledge in the U.S. and Western Europe, and the Role of Political, Economic, and Social Institutions; Sustainable Development, Poverty, and Economic Policies at Federal and Local Levels in India

Qualifications:

PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1970

M. Najeeb-Shafiq

Given Name:

M. Najeeb

Family Name:

Shafiq

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Rank:

Professor

Department:

Education

Office:

5911 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Office phone number:

412-648-1832

Regional specialty:

Email Address:

mnshafiq@pitt.edu

Region:

South Asia

Area of specialization:

Economics of Education; Education Reform; Social Benefits of Education; Human Capital Decisions; Development Economics; Comparative Education; Labor Economics; Behavioral Economics

Qualifications:

PhD, Columbia University, 2005

Publications:

2014 “Are student protests in Arab states caused by economic and political grievances? Empirical evidence from the 2006-07 Arab Barometer,” Peabody Journal of Education 89(1).

2013 “Gender gaps in mathematics, science and reading achievements in Muslim countries: A quantile regression approach,” Education Economics 21(4), pp. 343-359.

2013 “Accounting for risk of non-completion in private and social rates of return to higher education,” Journal of Education Finance 39(1), pp. 73-95.

Edwin D.-Floyd

Given Name:

Edwin D.

Family Name:

Floyd

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Rank:

Professor Emeritus

Department:

Classics

Office:

1520 Cathedral of Learning

Office phone number:

412-624-4483

Regional specialty:

South Asia

India

Email Address:

edfloyd@pitt.edu

Region:

South Asia

Area of specialization:

Greek Poetry; Greek and Indo-European Linguistics; Sanskrit; Linear B, Greek Phonology and Morphology; The Importance of the Pitch Accent in Greek Poetry

Biography:

Edwin Floyd is Professor of Classics. He joined the University of Pittsburgh faculty in 1966, having taught previously at the College of William and Mary. His areas of specialization are Greek poetry, Greek and Indo-European linguistics, and Sanskrit. All three of these areas are combined in his work on Indo-European poetic formulas in Sanskrit (Rig-Veda and Mahabharata) and in Greek. In the case of inherited formulas in Greek, there is of course a certain focus on Homer, but his work in this area also ranges from archaic lyric poetry through the Late Antique and Byzantine periods. Homer, Sappho, Parmenides, Pindar, Bacchylides, Sophocles, Nonnos, and Cometas are among the authors on whom he has published, along with Linear B, Greek phonology and morphology, and the importance of the pitch accent in Greek poetry.

Qualifications:

PhD, Princeton University, 1965