August 20, 2016: A donation of USD 100,000 has been made by an Indian-American couple to a top American university to support graduate students who are studying Sikh and Punjabi culture there.
The endowment by Harkeerat and Deepta Dhillon, to University of California, Riverside, will help to attract graduate students with an interest in Sikh and Punjabi culture, and support fieldwork on Sikh communities in the United States, the university said in a statement.
Follow NewsGram on Twitter
University of California, Riverside. Image source: www.ucr.edu
"This gift is a testament to their commitment to higher education, their passion for the arts and humanities, and their desire to expand the knowledge base about Sikh and Punjabi culture," said Milagros Pe a, dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences to IndiaPost.
The Harkeerat and Deepta Dhillon endowed Research Award for Sikh and Punjabi Studies in the Arts and Humanities, that will provide much-needed support for the dissertation research and writing on arts and humanities topics that relate to Sikh and Punjabi culture, said Professor Pashaura Singh and Jasbir Singh Saini, Chairman of Sikh and Punjabi Studies and chairman of the Department of Religious Studies.
Follow NewsGram on Facebook
"We believe that establishing this award will enhance the belief that this is an educational institution that recognizes diversity and teaches diversity," he said to India Post.
Dhillon, a prominent Riverside orthopedic and hand surgeon, has helped earlier as well to raise funds needed to launch the endowed chair in Sikh Studies in 2008.
– prepared by Karishma Vanjani of NewsGram. Twitter: @BladesnBoots
ALSO READ: