Venice International University Honors Srinivas Aravamudan

Venice International University (VIU) has created a graduate student scholarship to honor of Srinivas Aravamudan, an English professor and former Duke dean of the humanities who died in 2016 at the age of 54.

The scholarship, which starts in 2018, will cover the cost of tuition, travel and living expenses for one global humanities student a year to participate in an intensive graduate activity at VIU such as the PhD Academy, Graduate Seminar or Summer School.  VIU is a consortium of 17 universities from all over the world with an autonomous campus on the island of San Servolo, Venice, Italy. Duke is one of only two U.S. partners.   

Aravamudan, a scholar of 18th-century British and French literature and postcolonial literature, championed the humanities, nurturing and promoting their role in contemporary society. At Duke, his leadership included serving as director of the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, as dean of the humanities and as director of the Humanities Writ Large initiative.  His advocacy extended around the world. He served as president of the international Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, an association of 207 humanities organizations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, India, Africa and the Pacific Rim.