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Davis & Elkins College President G.T. "Buck" Smith has named Dr. Kisor Chakrabarti as professor of philosophy and chairman of the department of religion and philosophy.

"As we have all come to realize, we have in our midst a most engaging, world-renowned scholar and teacher of philosophy," Smith said. "Rather than riskhaving his extraordinary teaching and scholarlygiftsconsumed by the duties of provost and dean of faculty, Dr. Chakrabarti has expressed willingness to move full time to the faculty as professor of philosophy, and take on the added duties of chair of the department of religion and philosophy. This is an opportunity we must not let go by."

Chakrabarti has published 64 papers and articles and is completing his fifth book,"Philosophy of Induction - East and West."

His appointment allows Davis & Elkins to now offer three majors in religion and philosophy: religion, religious education and philosophy.

Other courses, such as logic, ethics, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, medical ethics, business ethics and philosophy of the mind, will also be offered to enhance all areas of study in the liberal and professional arts.

Chakrabarti received his BA, MA and LLB from Calcutta University and his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a native speaker of Bengali, is fluent in English, Sanskrit and Hindi, has a reading knowledge of Greek and German, and has traveled widely throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Before permanently joining the academic profession, Chakrabarti practiced law at the High Court in Calcutta. He taught at Calcutta University for many years, and for several years was director of the University Leadership Project. He also served as principal of Asutosh College, a distinguished, small private liberal arts college in Calcutta.

Chakrabarti has taught a variety of upper and lower level courses on philosophy and religion at a number of colleges and universities in India and the United States. He has received numerous honors, including membership in the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton University and fellow at the Australian National University. Some of his publications are used as textbooks or reference works at many colleges and universities.

President of the Society for Indian Philosophy and Religion and editor of The Journal of Indian Philosophy and Religion, Chakrabarti is experienced in grant writing, and has organized numerous national and international conferences in the U.S. and India on topics of comparative religion and philosophy, globalization, environmental studies and Asian studies. He has also led many study abroad programs for several U.S. colleges and universities.