Campus in Brief (5/10/06)

Anthtropology professor wins book award

Zach Harmuth, Staff Writer

A Pitt… Anthtropology professor wins book award

Zach Harmuth, Staff Writer

A Pitt anthropology professor won the 2006 Amanda Kentish Coomaraswamy Book Prize from the South Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies for his book, “Yoga in Modern India: The Body Between Science and Philosophy.”

Joseph S. Alter, a socio-cultural anthropologist with a Ph.D. from Berkeley, studies primarily South Asia. According to a University press release, he has conducted extensive research concerning the area, such as the symbolic meaning of the body in the practice of Indian wrestling, the relationship between sexuality, male celibacy and nationalism in postcolonial India, and the development of scientific yoga therapy as a modern, middle-class form of public health in the country.

This book, which some consider to be the first serious ethnographic history of modern yoga, provides a deeper understanding of how yoga developed the popularity it has today. He wrote it not only for students and scholars, but also practitioners.

According to a University press release, Alter has written other books, including “The Wrestler’s Body: Identity and Ideology in North India” and “Knowing Dil Das: Stories of a Himalayan Hunter.”

The AAS prize is given out annually.

Graduate School of Business will have a new dean

Zach Harmuth, Staff Writer

The Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business gets a new dean in August — John T. Delaney. He is a nationally known scholar in negotiations, disputed resolutions and labor-management relations. Delaney currently serves as associate dean for the Eli Broad College of Business and Graduate School of Management at Michigan State University.

“[He] will provide the academic and organizational leadership and judgment needed to make our business programs as strong as they can possibly become,” Provost James V. Maher said while making the announcement.

Chancellor Nordenberg also praised the new business school dean.

“Dean Delaney’s demonstrated abilities — combined with his experiences as an administrator and faculty member … make him an excellent choice to lead these key programs here at Pitt.”

Delaney received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in industrial relations at LeMoyne College and his master’s and doctoral degrees in labor and industrial relations at the University of Illinois. He also has been widely published in publications such as the Journal of Labor Research and The Ethics of Human Resources and Industrial Relations.

Delaney will replace Frederick Winter, who retired as dean last year to resume research and teaching.