Balangir, Kalahandi varsities get new VCs

BHUBANESWAR: The Chancellor of Universities Prof Ganeshi Lal on Monday appointed Prof Umaballav Mohapatra and Prof  Sanjay Kumar Satpathy as the Vice-Chancellors (VC) of Rajendra University at Balangir and Kalahandi  University at Balangir respectively.

The new vice-chancellors will hold the position for a period of four years. Mohapatra, a retired professor of Botany at North Odisha University who has a teaching experience of around 33 years, said his immediate focus for Rajendra University will be to open classroom teaching, procure books and arrange  for accommodation of PG students of the university. The university has opened 18 PG departments since  its inception in 2019. 

“This is a new university and hence, work has to start from a scratch. There are no faculty members for any of the departments now and my focus will also be on managing the situation with guest faculty members till permanent teachers are appointed. My aim is at holding at least two classes in  each of the departments currently,” said Mohapatra, who has authored one book and successfully guided  14 PhD and 24 MPhil scholars. “

Satpathy, similarly, is a retired professor of Commerce of Ravenshaw University. He has authored 24 books including 13 related to academics and has more than 36 years of teaching experience and successfully guided 20 PhD scholars. 

Satpathy said he would look into faculty recruitment and UGC approvals and formation of statutory bodies for smooth functioning of the university.The Rajendra Autonomous College at Balangir and the Government Autonomous College at Bhawanipatna  were upgraded as universities in 2019.