Zoroastrians Abroad
Faculty fraternity
To facilitate Zarathushti youth to prepare for 21st century careers in industry, government, academia and entrepreneurship through higher and specialized education, the formation of the Zoroastrian Faculty Network (ZFN) was announced on April 2, 2018. ZFN is a joint endeavor of the Global Working Group (GWG), the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC) and Zarathushti faculty in academia. Offers of assistance have already been received from "about a dozen faculty members” who have contacted the core team, stated WZCC global president Edul Daver in his email response to Parsiana’s queries. Another dozen names from academia in the US, India, UK, Singapore and other regions have been recommended by third parties. "The initial group of about 20 faculty members from around the world will give us a good starting point to fine tune the objectives,” he remarked.
To pursue its vision to "empower Zarathushti students to learn how to create economic, cultural and intellectual value,” the ZFN currently has a working group with three representatives each from the USA and India: from academia, Dr Farrokh Mistree (USA) and Prof Dinyar Pestonjee (India); from GWG, Dr Behram Pastakia (USA) and Farrokh Rustomji (India); from WZCC, Daver (USA) and Yazdi Tantra (India). "Our objective is to interact and create synergy between academics, students and practitioners [business, STEM (science, technology, engneering and math), arts, professionals, and others] worldwide,” wrote Daver.
Explaining the genesis of the project, Daver mentioned that "the idea was put forward by Mistree to Pastakia on September 3, 2017 when both of them were at my home in New Jersey. Pastakia pursued it further and the subject was discussed with the global directors at the WZCC annual general meeting in Bangalore. After further discussions with Neville Shroff (of Hong Kong) and Rustomji it was decided to take it forward as a joint project as both groups had somewhat similar objectives.”
Before the 11th World Zoroastrian Congress in Perth where the GWG will meet on June 1, 2018, the plan is to organize a webinar (a seminar conducted over the internet) in May to give pro bono help to students from India with their application process for admission to overseas universities for the academic year starting September 2019. Likewise a webinar for US will be organized around August. Assistance with admission is just one of the "desired outcomes” as outlined by the core team. The others are providing information on faculty openings, post-doctoral positions, research assistants; career advice by senior faculty to juniors with help to prepare their promotion and tenure documents, mock interviews, etc; promotion of student and faculty exchanges; help with launch of start-ups and business consultation on a chargeable basis to companies.
To pursue its vision to "empower Zarathushti students to learn how to create economic, cultural and intellectual value,” the ZFN currently has a working group with three representatives each from the USA and India: from academia, Dr Farrokh Mistree (USA) and Prof Dinyar Pestonjee (India); from GWG, Dr Behram Pastakia (USA) and Farrokh Rustomji (India); from WZCC, Daver (USA) and Yazdi Tantra (India). "Our objective is to interact and create synergy between academics, students and practitioners [business, STEM (science, technology, engneering and math), arts, professionals, and others] worldwide,” wrote Daver.
Explaining the genesis of the project, Daver mentioned that "the idea was put forward by Mistree to Pastakia on September 3, 2017 when both of them were at my home in New Jersey. Pastakia pursued it further and the subject was discussed with the global directors at the WZCC annual general meeting in Bangalore. After further discussions with Neville Shroff (of Hong Kong) and Rustomji it was decided to take it forward as a joint project as both groups had somewhat similar objectives.”
Before the 11th World Zoroastrian Congress in Perth where the GWG will meet on June 1, 2018, the plan is to organize a webinar (a seminar conducted over the internet) in May to give pro bono help to students from India with their application process for admission to overseas universities for the academic year starting September 2019. Likewise a webinar for US will be organized around August. Assistance with admission is just one of the "desired outcomes” as outlined by the core team. The others are providing information on faculty openings, post-doctoral positions, research assistants; career advice by senior faculty to juniors with help to prepare their promotion and tenure documents, mock interviews, etc; promotion of student and faculty exchanges; help with launch of start-ups and business consultation on a chargeable basis to companies.
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