Promoting Partnerships and Friendship

By Mike Porter

Before a crowd of more than 300 people, Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao and Gov. Bob McDonnell joined Virginia Commonwealth University leaders in launching a $1 million multi-year campaign to support an India Chair in Democracy and Civil Society. It will be the first of its kind in the United States and will be housed in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.

“The horizon is limitless for what we can do together,” said Ambassador Rao. The ambassador cited a number of ongoing successes as proof, including VCU’s international partnerships with the India University of Technology and the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine and Research and a collaboration last year between planning students from VCU and the Center for Environmental and Planning Technology University in India on a major conservation and development project in the area where India’s independence movement was born.

Ambassador Rao and Gov. Bob McDonnell served as keynote speakers at the inaugural dinner, held April 2 at the Hilton Richmond Hotel and Spa/Short Pump.

The governor told attendees that India has become increasingly important economically to Virginia, becoming the commonwealth’s 15^th largest trading partner in 2010. And he noted that partnerships such as the India Chair are important for promoting economic growth and strengthening international relationships.

“That’s why this vision for this chair is so important because it represents the highest traditions of the best ideals of both our nations,” McDonnell said.

VCU President Michael Rao said the India Chair provides an exciting opportunity for VCU, Richmond and Virginia.

“This is a chair that very much aligns with VCU,” said President Rao, who described the chair’s creation as an incredible source of pride for the university.

The India Chair will lead the discussion about democracy by bringing experts on Indian art, culture, history, politics, economics, business relations and related areas to campus and the surrounding community.

Niraj Verma, director of the L. Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs in the College of Humanities and Sciences, said the India Chair will promote values and friendship.

“This is the first chair, or one of the first chairs, in the country, in the United States, that celebrates the democratic and civil society aspect of the friendship between two countries,” Verma said.

Holders of the chair will visit VCU for short-term visits or longer stays of up to a year. The chair will host an array of speakers and events.

Visit http://www.wilder.vcu.edu/giving/indiachair.html to find out more about the campaign or contact Jen Thompson at jlthompson2@vcu.edu or at 804-828-2339.