MEET SANDHYA GUPTA SENIOR PROGRAM DIRECTOR

My name is Sandhya Gupta, and I’m so pleased to introduce myself to you all. I joined Princeton in Asia as Senior Program Director in April 2021 and the last several months have been filled with exciting challenges, wonderful conversations with my new colleagues, and inspirational engagement with our fantastic PiA community.

Prior to joining the PiA family, I spent 10 years living in New Delhi, India as a Senior Education Advisor for the Tony Blair Institute of Global Change (TBI). In this capacity, I managed a network of 200 secondary schools across South Asia and provided trainings for teachers and for government officials on incorporating social and emotional learning into their curricula. I also facilitated inter-cultural dialogue for teenagers across the world – helping students work through issues of prejudice and bias together, and giving young people the tools to foster cross-cultural relationships.

At TBI, I had the privilege of expanding the program to target students of diverse backgrounds. I sought out public/government schools for recruitment and enhanced our efforts to reach students from marginalized backgrounds. The best part of my job was making connections between students of varying backgrounds, and facilitating conversations between them that would result in a deeper understanding of the other.

Although I did not have the fortune of doing a PiA fellowship myself, I did a similar fellowship in India many years back, which changed the course of my life. I came to India on a one-year fellowship with an organization called Indicorps, and then extended my time in India to two years. Prior to my time abroad, I had been working in the policy arena and had envisioned a very particular career for myself in diplomacy. My fellowship in India had me working alongside Indigenous small farmers and living very much off-the-grid in rural Rajasthan. I became fascinated with international development – both personally and professionally – and ended up working for a human rights grantmaking organization funding, among other things, Indigenous rights in India.

I am so excited to be involved with PiA as we navigate what international travel and cultural exchange looks like in a world that is both more connected and more polarized. COVID-19 presented PiA with the opportunity to slow down and engage in deep strategic thinking, and I am grateful for the chance to lead PiA’s programs team into this new chapter. We’re getting ready to send our first Fellows back to Asia very soon and I look forward to the support and suggestions of this community as we head into this next phase.

Involving PiA Fellows. This is an important step in our ongoing work to prevent and effectively address issues of harassment, bullying, and discrimination in our community.

Preparation for sending Fellows back to Asia has certainly not been straightforward. But our Fellows are committed to their placements and have demonstrated great flexibility and adaptability. Our host organizations in Vietnam, Thailand, China and Japan have been understanding as we navigate these new waters together. They are keen to have PiA Fellows back with them as soon as possible, and their support has been essential as we have worked together to relaunch programming.

We can’t wait to bring you updates from our new class of Fellows, in addition to other exciting developments as we relaunch our fellowships and roll out new initiatives.

SABRINA L. SMITH JOINS PiA AS INAUGURAL DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT

We are thrilled to announce the hiring of Sabrina L. Smith to serve as our first ever Director of Advancement. She will lead the development and execution of an advancement strategy that strengthens and grows the program, broadens PiA’s impact, and harnesses the energy of PiA’s global community, while centering diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“We are excited to begin this new chapter and look forward to Sabrina’s leadership as we embark on an ambitious strategic plan and activate the full potential of our vibrant community of alumni and friends,“ said Blair Blackwell, Chair of the Development Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Sabrina comes to PiA following eight years at Princeton University, where she was Associate Director, Leadership Gifts. Sabrina has also held advancement roles at Smith College and Cornell University. Prior to her work in higher education, she spent seven years raising funds for smaller organizations including CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, the San Francisco Bar Association Volunteer Legal Services Program, and the Foundation Center (now called Candid). She is a graduate of Cornell University.

Said Sabrina: “PiA is a potent community that is deeply rooted in a proven framework for meaningful cross-cultural appreciation and respect. I am incredibly excited to join the team, particularly at this moment when the world so clearly needs the solutions provided by PiA - and PiA so readily embraces its calling to build collaborative bridges between the United States and Asia. I look forward to nurturing the PiA community and welcome hearing community members’ thoughts and ideas.”

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In Memory Of Wataru Takeshita

Princeton in Asia was saddened to learn of the death of Wataru Takeshita in September 2021. Takeshita-san was a congressman and served as Minister for Reconstruction of Japan, where he was in charge of Comprehensive Policy Coordination for Revival from the Nuclear Accident at Fukushima. He and his wife Masako-san generously hosted PiA Osawa Fellows in their home during the summers of 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2010 and 2011. PiA mourns the passing of a giant who contributed to both the Japanese political accomplishments of the post-war era and PiA’s work of fostering mutual appreciation and cross-cultural understanding between the U.S. and Asia.

IN MEMORY OF OWEN D. NEE, JR.

The Princeton in Asia community mourns the loss of one of its great supporters and pillars, with the passing of Owen D. Nee, Jr. in May. Owen built a career — and to some degree a life — serving as a bridge across borders and cultures, with PiA playing an important role. Through PiA, Owen taught English at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1965 to 1967. It was during this time that he met the love of his life, Amber Wong, then a student there, to whom he was married for almost fifty years.

After law school — interrupted by distinguished military service in Vietnam — Owen launched a legal career with the firm Coudert Brothers, first in Hong Kong and then in mainland China. During a period in which China was just beginning to open up, Owen helped to structure some of the agreements that came to serve as the bedrock of the early economic relationship between the U.S. and China. Owen’s time in private practice stretched decades, during which he mentored many attorneys. One of his legacies is the training he provided to Chinese attorneys, many of whom went on to found or join prominent Chinese law firms, and serve as trailblazers within the Chinese bar.

Owen and Amber were steadfast supporters of PiA. They opened their home in China to PiA Fellows for many years making dozens of Fellows — myself included — feel more at home while living abroad. Owen also helped create and support several PiA fellowships at Coudert Brothers, and later Orrick. Owen possessed a boundless curiosity and exceptional intellect, and it should come as no surprise that he threw himself into his “retirement” years with energy. He taught at Columbia and NYU law schools. He wrote books. He represented veterans on a pro bono legal basis through the endlessly challenging Department of Defense/Veterans Administration disability process. He helped sustain a non-profit organization honoring the life and legacy of his son Dave, which focuses on de-stigmatizing mental health, particularly among law students and those in the legal profession. And he remained a devoted grandfather, moving to a care facility in Concord, MA towards the end of his life so that he could be close to his grandchildren. In honoring Owen, may we remember the importance of bridge-building, and the grace that it grants us. The PiA community extends its deepest sympathies to the Nee family. --

Will Leahy, China ‘04 and PiA Trustee

In Memory Of Josef Silverstein

Josef Silverstein was a paragon of PiA, a dedicated scholar, and a steadfast friend. He passed away on June 29, 2021, at the age of 99. He was a beacon of hope for the third of Myanmar’s population who are minorities such as Shans, Rohingyas, or Karens. He equally supported majority Burmans, whose elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi the army has jailed. His pathbreaking book, Burmese Politics: The Dilemma of National Unity, directly faces the continuing crisis for this country’s 55 million people.

Decades ago on a tour to Inle Lake, my guide was Shan, one of the ethnicities that Burma’s military was then – and is still – attacking. I mentioned to the guide that I knew a Burma specialist named Josef Silverstein. The reaction was immediate. It could not have been greater if he had thought me a pal of Jesus Christ or the Buddha. My guide had heard Joe interviewed on BBC shortwave, telling truths about killings by the military. As activist Muang Zarni wrote, Joe “gave his human solidarity back.” We scholars don’t just study people; we learn from them – and we try to help them, even when governments don’t give us visas.

Joe served on PiA’s Board from 1972 to 2016, and then as Emeritus Trustee until 2021. He and I once were a two-person PiA Planning Committee – and we agreed on everything. As Joe knew, PiA should engage with a variety of Asian countries, rather than putting too many eggs in too few baskets. Joe’s commitment to Burma was special, but he studied other countries too. He wrote the Encyclopedia Britannica article on Laos, spoke often about complexities in Thai or Malaysian politics, and once headed Singapore’s Institute for Southeast Asian Studies. For PiA, he briefed Fellows before they headed off to that part of the world.

Josef Silverstein was a very good man, pioneering scholar, committed husband to Marilyn, his wife of 67 years (who predeceased him by a week), loving father to Gordon and Frank (Thailand ’78) and much-missed friend of Princeton in Asia. The PiA community sends its deepest condolences to Josef Silverstein’s family, friends and loved ones. -- Lynn White, PiA Emeritus Trustee