New Assistant Professor: Dr. Sandhya Sundaresan

Prof. Sandhya Sundaresan is our newest Assistant Professor of Linguistics, and the Anandavalli and Dr. G. Swaminathan Endowed Research Professor in Tamil. This endowed professorship was established in 2017 to advance Tamil language and culture, and Prof. Sundaresan is the inaugural holder of the position. Her 2013 PhD was jointly awarded by the University of Tromsø/University of Stuttgart, and her research focuses on syntax, in particular Dravidian syntax and variation. To that end, she conducts fieldwork with native speakers of different dialects of Tamil and plans to establish a field station in Tamil Nadu to study Tamil dialect variation. The field station will be open to all scholars at SBU to study various aspects of Tamil life and culture, including economics, history, art, music, language, etc.