Parade and Festival Aug. 14, Hosted by Pitt’s Indian Room Committee, Will Celebrate India’s 64th Year of Independence

PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh’s Indian Nationality Room Committee will commemorate India’s 64th year of independence from noon to 3 p.m. Aug. 14 with a communitywide celebration, including a parade around Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave., Oakland, followed by a flag hoisting and festival in the Cathedral’s Commons Room. Ramayya Krishnan, dean of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Heinz College and the William W. and Ruth F. Cooper Professor of Management Science and Information Systems, will be the featured speaker.

Marchers will assemble at 11:45 a.m. on the Bigelow Boulevard side of the Cathedral for the parade on the streets surrounding the building. Patriot songs will be sung and played, and an Indian youth group will perform the Bhangra dance on Fifth Avenue.

Revelers will move into the Cathedral, and at 1 p.m. the group will hoist the American and Indian flags and begin the cultural gala in the Commons Room. Admission is free.

A founding faculty member of CMU’s Information Systems Management program, Krishnan has been instrumental in helping create two externally funded research centers at Heinz College—the Center for the Future of Work, where he is founding director, and the iLab Living Analytics Research Center, serving as its director.

Krishnan also is an international research fellow of the International Center for Electronic Commerce in Korea and a visiting scientist at the Institute for Information Systems at Humboldt University in Germany.

Among Krishnan’s honors are the General Motors Technical Education Program Outstanding Distance Learning Faculty Award, which honors a professor for demonstrating excellence in distance learning education; the Martcia Wade Teaching Award; and he twice received the Teaching Award for the Heinz College’s IT programs. Krishnan holds and BTech in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, an MS in industrial engineering and operations research, and a PhD in management science and information systems from the University of Texas at Austin.

The committee—along with Pitt’s Intercultural Exchange Program, the Pittsburgh Indian community, several local organizations, and the general public—will participate in this day of culture with performances of traditional folk dance, henna hand painting, and an opportunity to purchase genuine Indian artifacts from local vendors and Pitt’s Gift Shop on the first floor of the Cathedral. Traditional food will be available for purchase, including samosas, chickpeas, naan, pekora, boondi, and cold savory mixtures.

For more information, contact Saroj Bahl at 412-828-2911 or bahlsaroj@gmail.com.

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