Reinharz speaks at Delhi climate summit
During his trip to India from Feb. 1 to Feb. 13, University President Jehuda Reinharz spoke at the 2010 Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, the first major convention on climate change since the Copenhagen Summit in 2009, according to Vice President of Global Affairs Daniel Terris, who accompanied Reinharz on the trip.Reinharz also spoke at St. Xavier's College in Mumbai about the role universities could play in tackling global issues, visited the Jewish community in Mumbai and visited alumni in both Delhi and Mumbai, according to information about the trip posted on the Brandeis Web site.
Reinharz wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that his speech emphasized the benefits of a liberal arts education in solving global problems.
"Solving global problems requires the kind of big ideas and creative thinking that are natural outgrowths of a liberal arts education," he wrote.
Reinharz called for the establishment of a Global Student Research Corps, a network of undergraduate and graduate students who could generate data and advance progress on climate change.
He wrote that he received "a lot of positive feedback" about this idea.
"It is clear to me that we need institutions of higher education to think big, to bring all of our many resources to bear, including the talents, energies, passion and idealism of our students and young people in general," he said during his speech at the summit, a copy of which was posted on the Brandeis Web site.
Terris, who had visited India twice before on behalf of the University's advancement of relationships with India, said that Reinharz's presence enhanced the University's visibility on the trip and had increased publicity benefits, explaining that Reinahrz was interviewed by two major newspapers and a national television station.
"This trip reinforced our connections to Brandeis alumni and parents of current students, and it helped bring a higher level of visibility for the University within the country," Reinharz wrote.
Reinharz wrote that, in an effort to solidify the alumni base in India, the University is in the process of establishing chapters in Delhi and Mumbai to enable alumni to convene for Brandeis activities and to increase opportunities available for Brandeis students in India.
Prof. Harleen Singh (GRALL), the chair of the South Asian Studies program, also accompanied Reinharz on this trip. Singh had said she hoped the trip would advance the South Asian Studies program.
Singh said in a phone interview with the Justice that she is in the preliminary stages of speaking with academics, professors and artists to work on partnerships between Indian institutions and Brandeis students, and she is specifically working on a partnership with TERI University, the Energy and Resources Institute in Delhi.
Singh said "major progress" was made on this trip in regards to this specific partnership.
Singh also served as a liaison to Reinharz and said she tried to help highlight the benefits of bridging cultural differences.
"I hope I helped in some ways in getting [Reinharz] to understand the differences in cultural systems and how we can use this information to help our undergraduates," she said.
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