Sunil Garg, an environmental attorney in Summit, New Jersey, was surprised when Governor Jon Corzine's office called April 16 to say he had been appointed a trustee of the soon-to-be-created Asian American Study Foundation.
A team led by New Jersey Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula discussed the idea of a foundation as far back as 2005, Garg said. They talked about the issues that concern this segment of the population: "Social, cultural, and even healthcare, that are not getting the attention that they should," Garg said.
On April 16, the governor appointed eight trustees (from New Jersey's Union, Middlesex, Bergen, Mercer and Essex counties) to the board of the Foundation. Among them was Ramya Ramnarayan, artistic director of the Nrithyanjali Institute of Dance in North Brunswick, New Jersey.
The Foundation, a non-profit, is to be devoted to developing and coordinating state-wide programs recognizing contributions of Asian Americans in New Jersey, the governor's office said.
The board of trustees would be authorised, within the limits of its funds, to employ an executive director and professional, technical and administrative personnel, award contracts for the professional and administrative services it shall require, and adopt bylaws setting forth its structure, offices, powers and duties.
The appointments are a manifestation of Governor Corzine's commitment to providing the 'best government possible for New Jersey through the involvement of all communities,' a spokesperson from the governor's office in Trenton said.
Ramnarayan said she was hopeful that the Foundation would provide opportunity to bring more cultural awareness about Asia to the mainstream.
"I am also hoping that festivals like Diwali can be considered to be, if not a state holiday, regional, depending on where the community is concentrated," she said, adding that recognizing Diwali would instil pride in Indian-American children.
Like Garg, she confessed to some surprise at the announcement. As someone who has worked as a cultural ambassador in the New Jersey community, she was contacted by Assemblyman Chivukula a few years ago and asked if she would like to be involved in an organization such as this.
Ramnarayan, who has studied Bharatnatyam under gurus Swamimalai Rajaratnam and Kalanidhi Narayanan, set up Nrithyanjali in 1990. This January, the New Jersey State Council of the Arts awarded her the prestigious Artists' Fellowship for choreography.
The Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana Committee, which in its more than 20 years of existence has brought most well-known Carnatic musicians to the United States, honoured her with the title Nrithya Seva Mani this year.
Garg is founder of Ecoshelf, a consulting company that recommends success-enhancing strategies, primarily in environmental and intellectual property matters. He is also executive director of the Union County Utilities Authority, which is entrusted with maintaining and operating facilities for the disposal, processing and recycling of solid waste in an environmentally sound manner.
 |
These issues came up during his discussions with the assemblyman.
In 2005, the newly-elected Corzine appointed Garg (who has been an environmental attorney since 1986) to his transition team, where the latter's focus was on the environment. Garg had worked on Corzine's Senate campaign in 1999.
© 2025 