Background
Dirks was born in Illinois, and grew up in New Haven, where his father, J. Edward Dirks was a professor at Yale University.
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Nicholas Dirks
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He attended Wesleyan University, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1972 (College of Social Studies), and the University of Chicago, where he earned a Doctor of Philosophy in 1981.
Career
When the latter received a Fulbright Scholarship in 1963 to teach at the Madras Christian College, the Dirks family relocated to Madras, where Nicholas" interest in Indian culture first formed. At the University of Chicago, he came under the influence of historical anthropologist Bernard Cohn. During this period he frequently returned for research purposes to South India.
After teaching at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Michigan, Dirks moved to Columbia in 1997, where he dramatically altered the direction of the anthropology department, championing postcolonial and multidisciplinary approaches, and making a variety of strategic appointments.
Dirks is the author of numerous books on South Asian history and culture, primarily concerned with the impact of British colonial rule. His most famous works include The Hollow Crown: Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom (1987), Castes of Mind (2001), and Scandal of Empire (2006).
In these works Dirks advanced research on how the character of British rule shaped the culture of the Indian subcontinent, as well as how Britain"s development came to be influenced by its colonies. In November 2012, Dirks was selected as the Chancellor-Designate of the University of California, Berkeley.
On November 27, 2012, the Regents of the University of California confirmed Dirks as University of California Berkeley"s next Chancellor.
He took office on June 1, 2013. Under Dirks" leadership, the University of California Berkeley administration has been severely criticized for decisions regarding sexual harassment by faculty and administrators. In particular, he has presided over decisions that inappropriately protected Geoffrey Marcy, professor of astrophysics who was found to have harassed scores of students over many years, and Sujit Choudhry, Dean of Berkeley Law who admitted to frequently hugging, kissing, and squeezing his executive assistant.
Dirks currently serves on the Council of Presidents for the University of the People.
His work has helped develop the world"s first non-profit, tuition-free, online academic institution that seeks to revolutionize higher education by making college-level studies accessible to students worldwide
She is the former director of the South Asia Institute at Columbia University.
Achievements
Connections
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Nationality
United States