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Visweswara Rao Koppaka with his wife Sita Koppaka |
| Emory University plans permanent chair for
Telugu Studies Koppaka family makes hefty donation By Ravi R. Ponangi Atlanta, GA: The need for establishing a Telugu Chair at a university in North America was first mooted at a Telugu Symposium held in Atlanta in 1998 organized by the Vanguri Foundation of America. The idea gathered momentum almost seven years later when Emory University showed interest in starting a Telugu studies program as part of its South Asian Studies. As a sequel to this, the Telugu Association of Metro Atlanta raised about $100,000 as seed money. This included $25000 raised by Academy of Kuchipudi Dance through their fund raising program. Utilizing this fund, Emory invited Prof V. Narayana Rao as visiting professor to teach Telugu literature at the university for two semesters. Emory committed additional funds to engage Prof. Rao for five more years to teach Telugu literature, Telugu culture and history. As a shot in the arm, the Emory University has now received a huge sum of $750,000 as donation from the Koppaka Family Foundation, in its bid to establish a permanent chair for Telugu Studies. An additional $ 750,000 dollars is needed to establish a permanent chair. The Telugu Community here and in North America should now seize the opportunity to muster the balance funds to make real this dream. The Koppaka Family Foundation has gifted a massive $750,000 to Emory University for the establishment of a professorship in Telugu language, South Indian cultures, literatures, and history in memory of their parents Visweswara Rao Koppaka and Sita Koppaka. Dr. Ram Koppaka, son of Visweswara Rao said the donation is a standing testimony to his parent’s passion for South Indian culture and Telugu language and their long-standing wish to preserve and pass on the richness of Telugu literature and culture to successive generations of students. Dr. Koppaka Visweswara Rao’s success story is known to many and the ideals he preached and practiced are worthy of emulation. He was born in a village Vempadu in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, India, in 1925. He grew up in poverty. He was the first in his village to obtain a doctorate degree and go to the United States for further study. As a scientist, who enjoyed research, he worked in the lab, wrote grants, and supervised graduate students even in his advancing years. He was also a pharmacy professor and a medicinal chemist who had a life-long love for learning and lore. He was taught at a young age that education was the only path for deliverance from poverty. Often relying on the charity of others for his morsel of food each day, a practice known in Telugu as Vaarulu and the quality of persistence instilled in him by his parents, Dr. Rao excelled in academics and went on to receive a D.Sc. in Organic Chemistry from Andhra University at the age of 23. Although married and had an infant daughter, he left India in 1948 on a Government of India scholarship to pursue higher studies in the US. He returned to his family five years later, having earned a second PhD in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin. The family ultimately migrated to the US in 1954 and began a new life in this land of the ultimate. Dr. Rao joined the staff of Chas. Pfizer, Inc. and soon became manager of chemical research of the company’s cancer research program. This period was noteworthy, earning him an international reputation for skill in the isolation of natural products with antitumor activity. Of the 30 agents he discovered, which were subjected to human clinical trials, one compound, mithramycin, was ultimately approved by the FDA and is still in clinical use today. Dr. Rao left Pfizer in 1969 to join the faculty of the College of Pharmacy at the University of Florida. In addition to research, he developed a passion for teaching, an endeavor in which also he excelled. Braving great odds, Mrs. Rao, with the help of her new American friends, became fluent in English and imbibed the customs and culture of the United States. Blending elements from both oriental and occidental cultures, she became an admirable home-maker. Together, they raised their three children inculcating in them the same respect for education and culture and sense of social responsibility that their parents had instilled in them. They had an intense appreciation for the classical literature, music, and culture of South India, an interest they zealously passed on to their children. Death spares none and Dr. Rao passed away in 1998. In the sunset years of his life, Dr. Rao expressed a desire to share his abiding interest in South Indian classical music and the arts with younger generations of Indians raised in the US as well as Americans, who are interested in learning about the rich cultural and language traditions of Andhra Pradesh. Alive to the fact that it was through the charity of others that he was able to complete his education and become a successful scientist, he was keen to repay this debt by focusing on education-based initiatives. It was in this ennobling spirit that the idea for a private family foundation was conceived. Although Dr. Rao passed away before he was able to fully implement this plan, his wife and children established the Koppaka Family Foundation in a manner consistent with his vision. Although it is understood that the goals of the foundation will grow and evolve over time, its overriding mission since its establishment in 2000 has been to support education and the arts, in specific areas of interest to members of the Koppaka family. At present, these include: — Fostering humanism in healthcare with an emphasis on the patient-physician relationship — Promote interest and appreciation in the United States for the culture, literature (both Telugu and Sanskrit), and classical arts of Andhra Pradesh; and — Education and mentorship programs for socially or financially disadvantaged students The foundation’s activities have focused primarily on their interest in improving humanism in healthcare – a mission born of the family’s experiences during Dr. Rao’s final illness (refer article entitled, Santi, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine http://www.annals.org/content/137/10/852.full.pdf). Since 2000, the foundation has provided funds through a competitive grant program to 17 medical schools across the United States for 26 visiting professorships designed to spark dialogue within the academic medical community on the importance of physician-patient-family communication. The foundation recently commemorated the 10th annual Koppaka V. Rao Lectureship in Humanities in Medicine at the University Of Virginia School Of Medicine. This annual lectureship, established by a permanent endowment, is intended to reach health professional students and trainees, healthcare providers and members of the public. The foundation’s overly generous gift to Emory University toward establishment of the Visweswara Rao Koppaka and Sita Koppaka Professorship in Telugu and South Indian Cultures, Literatures, and History represents its first effort in the area of Telugu classical arts. The family is strongly committed to the establishment of this permanent, endowed professorship at Emory University as it represents the fulfillment of Dr. and Mrs. Rao’s lifetime dream of sharing their passion for South Indian culture and language with others. Dr. Joyce Flueckiger, Director of South Asian Studies at Emory University, who is the architect of establishing the teaching of Telugu language at the university, said: “A lot of enthusiasm is being shown by several people in the  history, language and
culture of Telugu. There are many people, who are very
enthusiastic to learn Telugu.” She told India Tribune the Koppaka Family Foundation has committed half of what is needed
for the full endowment to support a professorship in Telugu. “So
we’re delighted that we are making this initiative public and
certainly hope that more donors will be forthcoming,” said Dr.
Joyce Flueckiger, an anthropologist, who grew up in India and
has carried out extensive fieldwork there. Emory is committed to building a strong program in Telugu Studies to enhance its South Asian Studies programs. With internal funding and support from the Telugu community, Emory hired world renowned Telugu scholar V. Narayana Rao in 2007. Working closely with graduate and undergraduate students, he has begun laying the foundations for Telugu Studies at Emory. To fully endow the professorship and ensure Telugu studies will have an enduring place at Emory, the university is raising another $750,000 in matching funds through Campaign Emory. To learn how one can contribute, email to Dr. Joyce Flueckiger, the Director of Asian Studies at Emory University at: reljbf@emory.edu . Comments from Readers: #1 Very interesting piece of information. For some time I forgot myself and got engrossed in reading the contents.He is no more with us but he shall be remembered for generations to come. I want to have e-mail address of Ravi. R. Ponangi to send a courtesy e-mail. Similarly I read one gentleman is appointed to head the school started by KOPPAKA foundation. If some one could give me his e-mail address I shall feel obliged. KOPPAKA. RAMAKRISHNA. #2 I am very lucky to be a part of this family and to know Dr. Koppaka Visweswara Rao and Mrs. Koppaka Sita very closely. They are really very great people, which cannot be expressed in words. I congratulate Dr Ram Koppaka and Dr Jaya Koppaka for taking this initiative and carrying the dreams of their parents forward. Not everybody does such things even if opportunities are given. Keep up the good work. Koppaka Ramani |