Our Bureau
New Haven, CT
Sunil Amrith, a historian who explores the intersection of human migration and global environmental history with a focus on South and Southeast Asia, has been appointed the Henry R. Luce Director of the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale, Provost Scott Strobel announced on Wednesday. He will begin his new post on March 1.
Amrith described the opportunity to serve as director of the MacMillan Center an “honor and a privilege.”
“The center was a big part of what brought me to Yale, and I have never ceased to be amazed by the breadth and depth of excellent scholarship that it nourishes,” Amrith said. “I look forward to working with the center’s outstanding staff and faculty to carry forward its mission of being a hub for international scholarship serving all of Yale, infusing global perspectives into everything we do on campus and out in the world.”
Amrith is the Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and professor at the Yale School of the Environment.
Since 2020, he has served as chair of the MacMillan Center’s Council on South Asian Studies, leading strategic planning, programming, and funding for faculty and student research. In that role, Amrith has built on the council’s reputation as a globally recognized center for the study of South Asia, fostering its role as a home for conversations on a range of topics from classical literature to climate to sustainability.
He has also advised the center as a member of the center’s Review Committee on Global Programs and offered key insights during the search for the center’s deputy director.
“Since arriving at Yale, Professor Amrith has contributed important perspectives and guidance on strategic priorities and policy issues,” said Strobel.
Created in the 1960s, when it was known as the Concilium on International and Area Studies, the MacMillan Center is a resource for all members of the Yale academic community for international studies.
Before joining the Yale faculty in 2020, Amrith was on the faculty at Harvard University, where he also served as co-director of the Joint Center for History and Economics. In that role, he led a fellowship program of economists, political scientists, and historians and financially stewarded the center. As interim director, he also steered the interdisciplinary Mahindra Humanities Center — a university-wide hub that connects the humanities with other disciplines — through leadership, staffing, and COVID-19 transitions.
Amrith is also the author of several publications, including “The Burning Earth: A History,” which was named to The New Yorker’s list of “Essential Reads of 2024” and is being translated into 10 languages.
He has also received numerous awards, including a 2017 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2024 Fukuoka Academic Prize, and the 2022 Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for History. Last year he was elected an International Fellow of the British Academy.
