Professional and Academic Opportunities

At SAC

• MSI & Community College Course Development Grant
  • Application deadline: April 7th, 2025, or when 100 applications have been received.
• Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships (Summer and Academic Year)
  • Check back in November 2025 for the Summer 2026 and Academic Year 2026-2027 applications.
• Summer Research Internships in South Asia
  • Application deadline: February 23, 2025
• Pulitzer International Reporting Student Fellowship
• Global Exploration for Educators Organization (GEEO) Summer 2025 Trip to Sri Lanka

  • Teacher Trip to Sri Lanka with our own Outreach Coordinator Sharifa Halimi

  • 06/30/2025 - 07/13/2025

  • The cost for the program is $2042. SAC is offering eight $1000 grants to active K-12 classroom educators who wish to participate in this program (four grants are still available!)
  • Apply here

At Penn

• South Asian Studies (SAST) Majors and Minors
• SAST Language Certificate in Gujarati, Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, or Urdu
• The South Asia Center's Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS)
• SIT Study Abroad India: Public Health, Gender, and Sexuality (Applications due Fall: February 15, Spring: September 15)
• Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) Student Programs (from research funds to fellowships to internships!)
  • CASI Summer Internship Program 
  • CASI Summer Research Funds
• Penn Global's India Research and Engagement Fund

Academic Opportunities

1. High school graduate/GED and up

• Boren Awards, South Asian Flagship Languages Initiative (SAFLI), Hindi & Urdu
• SASLI Summer Language Program
  • Should be over 18
  • Application priority deadline: March 15, 2025
  • Apply Here
• SAI Summer Language Program
  • Application deadline: May 2, 2025
  • Apply Here
• AIPS Online Urdu Language and Culture Course

  • The 10-week course will run from March 13 to May 22, 2025.

  • Enrollment deadline: March 12, 2025

  • The course registration fee is $259, due upon enrollment.  

    • Faculty members at two-year colleges and Minority-Serving Institutions are eligible to have enrollment fees covered by AIPS. Please email AIPS for a code that will waive your dues at registration.

2. Undergraduates and up

• The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), Hindi & Urdu
• Fulbright U.S. Student Program
• SAI Summer Language Program
• AIIS Summer and Academic Year Language Programs in India
• Call for Proposals: 53rd Annual Conference on South Asia
  • October 22-25, 2025 (Wed-Sat), at the Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor's Club in Madison, Wisconsin.

  • Symposium proposals: Saturday, March 1, 2025 

    • Panel, round table, and single paper proposals: Saturday, April 5, 2025

        - The New Undergraduate Symposium will be held at Memorial Library on Wednesday, October 22, as part of the 53rd ACSA program.

    • Film proposals: Saturday, April 5, 2025. Please email the Conference Coordinator with submission materials.

3. Graduate students and up

• Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF)
  • Applications closed for 2025

• United States Institute of Peace (USIP) Fellowships

• Call for Proposals: Education About Asia
  • Manuscripts selected for publication should be written in prose that is accessible for high school and/or undergraduate instructors and students. Please consult the Author Guidelines before submitting a proposal, paying particular attention to Feature Article (3,000 to 4,000 words) and Teaching Resources Essay (2,000 to 3,000 words) word-count ranges.
  • Deadline to be Considered for Spring 2026 Publication is Thursday, May 1, 2025.

• Call for Papers: A Conference on South Asian Capitalism(s)

  • Submission Deadline (Extended Abstracts): Friday, March 14, 2025

  • September 12-13, 2025: Workshop at the Institute for South Asia Studies, UC Berkeley

• Call for Proposals: South Asia Conference of the Pacific Northwest (SACPAN)

  • Submission deadline: March 1, 2025
  • May 30-31, 2025 (approx. 1-5:30pm Friday, 9am-5:30pm Saturday)
  • University of Washington, Seattle (in person)

• Call for Papers: Princeton South Asia Graduate Conference, Small Voice of History
  • Abstract Submission Deadline: Saturday March 15, 2025
  • Selected candidates will be informed by: Sunday March 30, 2025
  • Completed Papers Deadline: Monday June 30, 2025
  • Conference Dates: October 24, 25 26
  • Applications must be sent to- southasiaconference2025@gmail.com
  • For additional information, please do not hesitate to contact Ainee Farooqui at: af8527@princeton.edu

4. PhD

• Fulbright-Hays-Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad
• American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) Fellowships
• American Institute of Bangladesh Studies (AIBS) Fellowships
• American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS) Fellowships
  • Application will open in November 2024
• American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies (AISLS) Fellowships
• Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) Fellowships

Professional Opportunities 

1. Careers

• Yale

  • Lector/Senior Lector I, Telugu, South Asian Studies Council

  • Application Review Begins on Saturday, March 1, 2025 and continues until the final selections.

• United States Institute of Peace

  • Jennings Randolph Senior Fellowship Program

    • Application Deadline: March 20, 2025

    •  

      This is a eight-month fellowship, January 2026 through August 2026, at USIP headquarters in Washington D.C.

    • The fellow will receive a monthly stipend of $15,000. The fellowship does not cover housing costs nor health insurance. USIP will cover one round-trip airfare to Washington, D.C. 

• International Justice Mission

  • Senior Lead - Grants & Partnerships, South Asia

    • This is a is a full-time, temporary position for 1 year. 

    • This position is based in the Washington, DC area and is available to be hybrid (onsite Tuesdays & Thursdays).

• Women for Afghan Women

  • Check out open positions:

    • Program Director (Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.A) $85- $95k annual compensation

    • Outreach Coordinator (Fresh Meadows, New York, U.S.A)  $50k-$55K annual compensation

    • Caseworker (Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.A) $50k-55K annual compensation

    • Summer Internship Position (New York Community Center -unpaid)

    • Communications Internship (Queens, NY -rolling and unpaid)

• International Rescue Committee

  • Regional Research Deputy Director

• The International Foundation for Electoral Systems

  • Senior Programs Manager South Asia

• The Gates Foundation

  • Senior Program Officer, Program Advocacy and Communications, HIV & TB

  • Deputy Director, Multilateral Development Banks (Health)

  • Senior Program Officer, Research - Inclusive Financial Systems

• Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI)

  • Assistant Director of Research & Outreach, Center for the Advanced Research of India

  • Tenured Professor/Associate Professor and Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• AIIS U.S. Director

  • Applications begin April 1, 2025

• U.S. Federal Government

• U.S. Foreign Service

  • Next foreign service officer test window: February 1 – February 8, 2025

  • Registration window: December 17, 2024-January 30, 2025

  • Learn more and register for the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT)

• South Asian Summer Language Institute (SASLI) - Language Instructor

• Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) - Resident Director (Summer)

2. Internships

• DGA ASG Spring Internship- South Asia Practice
  • Spring session 2025. The internship is based in Washington, DC, and is paid.
  • Interns must start immediately
• Global Philadelphia Internship Opportunities 
  • 1. Marketing and Business Development Intern
  • 2. Emerging International Journalism Intern 
  • 3. Heritage Education Intern
  • 4. SDG Project Management Fellowship
  • 5. Law/Document Intern
  • 6. Events Intern

    • These positions are unpaid internships with a $50 monthly travel stipend. Internships are offered year round and they require a minimum three-month stay with a 12 to 15-hour weekly time commitment. 

• Department of State Paid Internships
  • Summer 2025 applications are closed
  • Fall 2025 applications will open in February
  • Spring 2026 applications will open in July

3. Grants/Awards

• South Asia Book Award
• AIIS Digital Scholarship Grants
• AIIS Book Prize
• AIPS Book Prize

4. Opportunities 

• 2025 Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad fellowships program
  • Application deadline: March 10, 2025
• Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad for Educators

Career Services

The South Asia Center prioritizes enhancing career advising and mentoring at the undergraduate and graduate levels; and promoting career opportunities in government service, education, business, and non-profits.

SAC is available to work with undergraduate advising programs and the Penn Office of Career Services (OCS) to enhance career resources for South Asia including recommended programs of study, recommended experiential opportunities, and alumni mentor matching opportunities. SAC can work with the Center for Teaching and Learning and OCS to enhance career resources for graduate students, including global careers and careers outside academia.

Find out more about Penn's Career Services here.