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Guru
Nanak Heritage Institute Set Up
Significant decision of the San Jose
University enhances the pride of Punjabis in the Bay Area.
Daljit Singh
 San
Jose: To provide a respectable and befitting place for Punjabi
language and culture in California, activists of the Punjabi
community achieved a major breakthrough with the setting up of the
Guru Nanak Heritage Institute at the San Jose State University. With
the cooperation of the provost of the University, the Dean of the
Colleges of Humanities and Arts and the Department of Foreign
Languages, the Guru Nanak Heritage Endowment has also been started
which would target the development of Punjabi language, culture,
arts and crafts, music and sports.
This department will establish live contact and rapport with
universities in Punjab namely the Punjabi University Patiala, the
Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar and the Panjab University,
Chandigarh. It will also establish a working relationship with
other organizations engaged in the furtherance of Punjabi language
and culture. Student exchange programs will also be started.
Besides this, this centre will open dialogue with the Lahore
University and organizations working on Punjabi language and culture
in Pakistan.
Amidst the presence of a large number of Punjabis, the university
authorities announced the setting of the Guru Nanak Heritage
Institute at the Martin Luther King Library of the University on 18
December.
The
setting up of the Guru Nanak Heritage Institute was indeed a proud
moment for all of us, said the provost of the University, Dr.
William Nance. Setting up of this centre in the name of Guru Nanak,
the founder of Sikh religion would certainly enable us to enhance
the prestige of Punjabi language and culture but would also enable
us to strengthen the spirit of co-existence and cooperation amongst
different societies and cultures.
The
Dean Director of the University, Dr. Karl Toepfer, who has been the
key spirit behind the proliferation of Punjab, said Guru Nanak does
not belong only to the Sikhs. The great philosophy of the Guru who
played a significant role for welfare of humankind and his
philosophy can be of great significant for world peace. “It would
be the endeavor of this Institute to imbibe the teachings of the
Guru and impart the same to the next generation so that it can
inspire them to work for humanity,” he said. It is also necessary
to connect the western world with the teachings of the Guru at the
academic level, said the dean.
 Making
a profuse reference of the work of the oreign languages department
for the advancement of Panjabi, its head, Dr Dominique Van Hoff
said that with the setting up of the Institute, the University will
devote more energy to academic excellence and research in this
direction.
S.
Mohinder Singh Madan, who has been engaged in the efforts to promote
Punjabi for long now, said in his address that the Guru Nanak
Heritage Institute's establishment has given him much happiness and
extended his gratefulness especially to University officials
including Provost Dr. William Nance, Foreign Languages department
chairperson Dr Dominique Van Hoff and Dead Dr Karl Toepfer.
He
said but for the efforts of these authorites, this venture would not
have seen the light of the day and their guidance will remain a key
to the success of future ventures. Dr Indermohan Singh also thanked
the university authorities for the nobel initiative.
Dr
Atamjit Singh, head of the university's Punjabi Studies department
under whose guidance the department has been carrying out major
initiatives over the last ten years in the domain of Punjabi culture
and Sikh philosophy, thanked everyone for helping in realization of
his long cherished dream.
He
said all efforts will be made to fulfil the aspirations with which
this organisation has been established.
On
the occasion were present some of the who's who of Punjabi Diaspora
and San Jose and Fremonts' leading citizenry including Prof Arvinder
Loomba, S. Balbir Singh Dhillon, Bob Dhillon, Bhai Jaswant Singh
Hothi, S. Rajinder Singh maggar, Bhai Ram Singh, S. Sukhdev Singh
Bainipal, Dr Gurinderpal Singh and Amrit Sachdev.
19 December, 2007
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