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 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,” Strobel wrote in a message to the MacMillan Center community. “As a member of the Yale Planetary Solutions Steering Committee, he helped craft a framework for developing interdisciplinary solutions to planetary challenges. He has also served on the Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid (CAFA) and the Humanities Tenure Appointments and Promotions Committee (HTAC).”
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. Through its area studies councils, global programs, and fellowships, as well as through its teaching, it connects the university to the wider world and brings disciplinary breadth and depth to international studies at Yale.
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.
“Throughout the search process, it became clear that Professor Amrith’s deep commitment to regional studies, combined with his scholarly energy and ability to collaborate across disciplines, will bring visionary leadership to all of MacMillan’s regional councils and global programs,” Strobel wrote. “He will ensure existing programming at MacMillan thrives while creating new synergies and collaborations between Yale’s schools, bringing humanists, social scientists, and experts from across the university together.
“I am confident that he will elevate MacMillan’s profile both within and outside Yale, while also serving as a thoughtful and considerate leader to faculty and staff.”
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,” he 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.”
In his message to the community, Strobel also expressed gratitude to Kenneth Scheve, the Dean Acheson Professor of Political Science and Global Affairs and dean of social science in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, for leading the search to identify MacMillan’s next leader, and to Nilakshi Parndigamage, vice provost for strategic initiatives, who worked closely with Scheve. And he thanked members of the community who served on the search panel: Pericles Lewis, dean of Yale College; Marc Robinson, dean of humanities for FAS; and Megan Ranney, dean of Yale School of Public Health.
“Their work, along with contributions from the MacMillan community, has resulted in the appointment of an experienced leader, accomplished scholar, and university citizen who is well prepared to steward the center’s mission.”
Strobel also thanked Steven Wilkinson, who will continue to serve as the MacMillan Center’s interim director through February, even as he begins his new role as FAS dean.
