RICHARDSON, Texas (April 8, 2005) – The head of an Indian peace research center will discuss efforts to end the conflict between long-time adversaries India and Pakistan in a speech on Monday, April 18, sponsored by the School of Social Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). The event, which will be free and open to the public, will be held from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Eugene McDermott Library on the UTD campus.

Dr. Priyankar Upadhyaya, a member of the faculty of Banaras Hindu University and director of the institution’s Malaviya Center for Peace Research, will present a talk titled, “Building Peace Between India-Pakistan: Official and Civil Society Initiatives.” The day after his appearance at UTD, he is scheduled to speak to members of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations.

The center headed by Upadhyaya is an independent, interdisciplinary institute founded in 1997 that has earned an international reputation as a hub of intellectual activities on issues related to conflict and peace. Among its successful initiatives was a series of town meetings on the Indian-Pakistan conflict featuring opinion makers from the two countries, as well as conflict resolution experts from Europe and North America.

Upadhyaya was invited to UTD by a member of the Social Sciences faculty, Dr. Marie Chevrier, who met Upadhyaya while visiting India as a Fulbright Scholar last year. Chevrier taught conflict resolution during the fall 2004 semester at Jamia Millia Islamia, a university in New Delhi.

Upadhyaya earned a Ph.D. degree and a Master’s degree in international studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University and has done postdoctoral research at London University and Uppsala University in Sweden. He has won a number of national and international awards and honors for his work, including the Guest Scholar Award from the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., and a Senior Fulbright Scholar Award, which enabled him to teach at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

For additional information about the talk, please call Rita Medford at 972-883-4932.

About UTD

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls more than 14,000 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s web site at www.utdallas.edu.