Professor Aneesh Aneesh is the Executive Director of the School of Global Studies and Languages.  He is a sociologist who studies the ways work is organized and managed in a global world with a particular focus on the managerial and cultural implications of advanced economies offshoring work in India.  He is the author of two highly acclaimed books on the topic, Virtual Migration: The Programming of Globalization and Neutral Accent: How Language, Labor, and Life Become Global, as well as numerous articles and book chapters.  Professor Aneesh also developed and coined the term “algocracy,” which is the concept that global work is governed through the design of the work process itself, focusing on the role of programming schemes embedded in global software platforms that structure possible forms of work performance. He has been an invited fellow at numerous institutions over the years, including the School for Advanced Research, the Social Science Research Council, and the Berggruen Institute.  

As a Professor of Sociology and Global Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), Aneesh has significant prior administrative experience to bring to this position.  He was the Director of the Institute of World Affairs at UWM from 2014 to 2019, as well as the Director of the Global Studies Program and Senior Director of the Center for International Education from 2016 to 2019.  In those roles, he supervised a professional staff of over 30 people, which managed study abroad programs, international student recruiting, immigration and visa advising, and interdisciplinary academic programs.  Among other major initiatives, he raised private and public funds to lead a major outreach initiative with K-12 publics schools in Wisconsin, oversaw a weekly Public Broadcasting System show on international affairs, and helped plan and write a successful proposal for a Title VI National Resource Centers and Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships Grant.