Last Sunday, members of the South Asian Association (SAA) elected Pia P. Dandiya ’09 and Dhruv Maheshwari ’09 as co-presidents for the upcoming academic year.

Dandiya and Maheshwari said yesterday that they plan to launch a number of new initiatives, in addition to continuing the efforts of outgoing co-presidents Mayuri N. Shah ’08 and Rohan Kekre ’08.

Shah and Kekre have spent their tenure implementing a lecture series and starting a summer fellows program.

According to Dandiya, one of SAA’s main goals next year will be organizing a Pan-Ivy South Asian conference to be held on Harvard’s campus.

Maheshwari, meanwhile, emphasized the importance of fostering a stronger sense of community among the SAA and its five affiliate groups, which include the South Asian Journal and the South Asian Women’s Collective. In total, SAA and its affiliate groups have about 320 members, Maheshwari said.

SAA’s new leaders said they also plan to continue the group’s attempts to strengthen South Asian studies at Harvard by convincing the University to hire more professors with expertise in the field.

Shah said she was happy with the SAA membership’s decision to choose Dandiya and Maheshwari as the group’s next leaders.

“Over the years, I have gotten the chance to work with them and watch them grow,” Shah said. “I hope that they continue to remember that we have such a diverse set of members from different backgrounds.”

Other newly-elected officers for the 2007-2008 year include Kiran N. Bhat ’10 as treasurer, Russell F. Rennie ’10 as academic and political chair, Amrapali Maitra ’10 as cultural chair, Joseph G. Thumpasery ’10 as social chair, Ria S. Tobaccowala ’10 as outreach chair, Visali V. Ramanathan ’10 as publicity chair, Kavita Narayanadas ’09 as historian, and Vani E. Nambudiri ’09 as secretary.