Kavita Pandit, head of UGA’s geography department, has been named associate dean in the university’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
Pandit’s duties will include coordinating the Franklin College’s international and summer programs, as well as serving as liaison for the departments comprising the social and behavioral sciences within the college (anthropology, geography, psychology, sociology and speech communication).
Pandit’s research and teaching interests are in the areas of migration and Third World development. Her current work examines immigrant geographies in the U.S. and the movement of highly skilled workers between the U.S. and India. In 1987, Pandit came to UGA as associate professor of geography and has served as department head for the past two and a half years.
“I am delighted that Dr. Pandit will join the Franklin College as associate dean,” says Dean Garnett S. Stokes. “Her many years of research and teaching in these particular fields will serve the college and its international and social and behavioral sciences programs well.”
Pandit has taught introductory courses in human geography, upper division courses in population geography and the geography of development, and graduate seminars on migration and restructuring and population and development.
She received her bachelor’s degree from Bombay University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Ohio State University.
“I have enormous respect for the work being done in the social and behavioral sciences in the Franklin College and look forward to working with these departments,” says Pandit. “The opportunity to work with Franklin’s international programs is also very exciting because these programs are vital to instilling a truly global perspective in our students.”
Pandit succeeds Clifton Pannell, who retired as associate dean Dec. 1 after more than 34 years at UGA.