UM-Flint Mourns the Loss of Associate Professor Ananthakrishnan Aiyer

Ananthakrishnan Aiyer, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Department Chair of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice in the College of Arts and Sciences, passed away last night after a brief illness.

Professor Aiyer was deeply involved in the campus and the community since his arrival in 2000. In addition to his duties as Department Chair in the College of Arts and Sciences, Professor Aiyer was also the Director of the International and Global Studies Program. He was instrumental in bringing numerous speakers and films to the campus for a discussion of global issues. An accomplished scholar, Professor Aiyer's work focused on global issues of inequality, including research in India on the political economy of water. He had been co-editor of the journal, Dialectical Anthropology, since 2013.

Professor Aiyer earned his B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from St. Xavier's College at the University of Bombay, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Temple University.

Professor Aiyer leaves his wife Jennifer Alvey, Associate Professor in Anthropology and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan-Flint as well as many family, friends, colleagues, and students.

The visitation for Professor Ananthakrishnan Aiyer has been set for Friday, March 27 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Dodds-Dumanois Funeral Home on Garland Street in Flint. All members of the campus and the community who wish to pay their respects are invited to attend. In lieu of flowers, donations for a scholarship that will be established would be gratefully received.