Amid a nationwide Sikh media campaign to spread awareness about the community, a California physician and his wife have come forward with a donation of $100,000 to the University of California at Riverside, to help raise the community’s profile through research and studies in Sikh and Punjabi culture.
Dr. Harkeerat S. Dhillon and his wife Deepta, an architect, announced the gift Aug. 8. Both of them are longtime supporters of U.C. Riverside, the university said in a press note. The endowed research award will support doctoral students engaged in Sikh and Punjabi Studies in the arts and humanities and fieldwork on Sikh communities in the United States.
“Dr. and Mrs. Dhillon have been loyal supporters of the university for many years and it has been a pleasure to get to know them and experience firsthand their generosity of spirit and friendship since I arrived on campus a year ago,” said Milagros Pena, dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.
“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,” Pena said.
The Harkeerat and Deepta Dhillon Endowed Research Award will provide much-needed support for dissertation, research and writing on arts and humanities topics that relate to Sikh and Punjabi culture, said Pashaura Singh, professor and Jasbir Singh Saini Endowed Chair of Sikh and Punjabi Studies, and chair of the Department of Religious Studies.
“We are grateful to Dr. Dhillon and his wife, Deepta, for their generous gift. This award will help UCR attract new graduate students interested in Sikh and Punjabi music, history of Sikh settlers in California, film and media studies, and ethnographic fieldwork on various Sikh communities in the United States,” he said.
“Dr. Dhillon has contributed energetically in many ways to build the new program in Sikh Studies at UC Riverside. His selfless and untiring support has put the field of Sikh Studies on the academic map of North American universities.”
Dhillon, a prominent Riverside orthopedic and hand surgeon, and Deepta Dhillon, who worked as an architect in India and London, said the graduate student research award will raise the profile of UCR nationally in the field of Sikh and Punjabi studies.
“UCR is justly proud of and known nationally for its diverse student population,” said Dr. Dhillon who has been a member of the UCR Foundation Board of Trustees for 14 years and helped raise the funds to launch the endowed chair in Sikh Studies in 2008.
“We believe that establishing this award will enhance the belief that this is an educational institution that recognizes diversity and teaches diversity. The fact that an institution with the reputation of UCR’s is supporting this kind of research will give the Sikh community in the U.S. confidence that mainstream America wants to know about us.”
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