Shiv Nadar University Inks Memorandum of Understanding with University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Museum for Collaboration and Exchange

Greater Noida: Shiv Nadar University’s Center for Archaeology, Heritage and Museum Studies (CAHMS) and the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Museum have entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the intent to establish a program of collaborative partnership. The program potentially aims to facilitate scholarly cooperation, communication, and exchange; enhancement of comprehensive and interdisciplinary training for students and professionals; and the development of innovative consortia models for global cooperation.

The potential areas of cooperation between the CAHMS at Shiv Nadar University and Penn Museum include but are not limited to faculty exchanges, student opportunities at both undergraduate and graduate levels, research programs, and shared training initiatives in archaeological sciences, research methods, digital archaeology, and heritage studies.

Dr. Partha Chatterjee, Dean of International Partnerships, Professor & Head – Department of Economics, Shiv Nadar University, said: “This MoU reflects our steadfast focus on partnering the greatest institutions across the world to strengthen our engagement with academicians and students across the globe, and to continue pursuing cutting-edge education and research. We are delighted to join hands with Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania in this effort and are confident about building deep collaboration in the areas of archaeology, heritage and museum studies; an area that has immense potential and a true reflection of multidisciplinarity at SNU. This is yet another step in offering education and experiences of truly global standards to our students and faculty.”

Dr. Stephen J. Tinney, Co-Interim Director, Deputy Director, Chief Curator, Head of Collections and Research at Penn Museum, said: “The Penn Museum is pleased to enter into a collaborative agreement with Shiv Nadar University’s new Center for Archaeology, Heritage and Museum Studies (CAHMS). Shiv Nadar University has established itself as an important center for research, education, and public engagement in India. CAHMS offers an innovative and holistic approach to theory, method, and representation of the South Asian past in contemporary contexts which well aligns with the public and academic missions of the Penn Museum. This welcome partnership between CAHMS and Penn Museum will advance our collective commitment to scholarship, professional training, and outreach in this important area of the world, and we look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration.”

Talking about the CAHMS at Shiv Nadar University, the Center’s Director, Prof. Jaya Menon, said that, “It brings together students of the humanities as well as the natural and social sciences to provide training in archaeological methods, curatorial skills and heritage ethnographies through a range of immersive experiences. A concentration of archaeologists and scholars of cultural heritage, the CAHMS is on course to establishing itself as the premier center in South Asia for Archaeology, Heritage and Museum Studies. The primary aim of the Center is to impart interdisciplinary training to students, and bring together scholars from a number of universities and institutions in India and abroad for collaborative research.”