News about Sanskrit Studies in North American Universities

[Herman Tull]

Apropos this subject, I am interested in collecting information (for a study) on Sanskrit departments/courses and/or South Asia courses/departments in American universities.  I realize these courses are sometimes widely distributed, spread across classics, anthropology, and religious studies, or alternatively may be concentrated in self-contained departments.  I am currently looking at university websites to collect this data.  I would appreciate any information you might be able to relay to me that would not be obvious from your institution's websites.

Additionally, if you have anecdotal information (e.g., what direction your institution has taken with these programs/courses over the past several years; your approximate enrollments; who teaches the courses [adjuncts or permanent faculty]; prospects for the future; outside funding, etc.), I would appreciate a brief note in this regard (perhaps off-list).  We have heard quite a bit over the past year or so that some long-established European programs are moving away from Sanskrit; are American universities heading in the same direction?

Herman Tull
Princeton, NJ
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: hhhock<mailto:hhhock at EXPRESS.CITES.UIUC.EDU> 
  To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk<mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk> 
  Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 12:06 PM
  Subject: Re: News about Sanskrit Studies in North American Universities


  Dear Colleague,

  Thank you for the helpful information. You may want to include our  
  Sanskrit program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; see  
  http://courses.uiuc.edu/cis/archive/catalog/2003Spring/courses/<http://courses.uiuc.edu/cis/archive/catalog/2003Spring/courses/> 
  courses.SANSK.html as well as http://www.linguistics.uiuc.edu/<http://www.linguistics.uiuc.edu/> 
  programs/undergraduate/nonwesternlang.html.

  Best wishes,

  Hans Henrich Hock