Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit appointed first woman vice-chancellor of JNU

PTI

New Delhi, February 7

The Ministry of Education on Monday appointed Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit as the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, making her the first woman to hold the post.

She is currently a political science professor at the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Savitribai Phule University in Maharashtra.

The 59-year-old Pandit is also an alumna of JNU where she pursued her MPhil as well as PhD in International Relations.

Her thesis was on ‘Parliament and Foreign Policy in India—The Nehru years’.

“President Ram Nath Kovind, who is Visitor to the University, has approved the appointment of Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit as JNU Vice-Chancellor. Her appointment is for five years,” a senior Ministry of Education official said.

Pandit began her teaching career at Goa University in 1988 and moved to Pune University in 1993. She has held administrative positions in various academic bodies.

She has also been a member of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the Indian Council of Social Science Research and Visitor’s nominee to central universities.

In her career, she has guided 29 PhDs.

She said that her focus would be the implementation of the National Education Policy and to provide a gender-sensitive environment for academic excellence.

“As vice-chancellor, JNU, I thank both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Higher Education for giving me this opportunity as the first woman and alumnus of this esteemed university from the state of Tamil Nadu,” she said in a statement.

Pandit said she is looking forward to working with students and faculty members. “The immediate focus of this administration would be to provide clean administration, students-friendly and gender-sensitive environment for academic excellence.”

M Jagadesh Kumar, who was holding the charge of acting vice-chancellor at JNU after his five-year term ended last year, was appointed as the chairman of the UGC last week.

“It gives me pleasure to inform you that Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit from Savitribai Phule Pune University has been appointed as the next Vice-Chancellor of JNU. She is the first female Vice-Chancellor of JNU.

“My hearty congratulations to her. I am handing over the charge to her today and wish her success in her new role,” Kumar said in a statement.

Meanwhile, old tweets criticising JNU students and farmers, purportedly posted by a Twitter account carrying Pandit’s name, were shared widely on social media. The tweets from an unverified account, which carried Pandit’s name, made references to Sharjeel Imam and Nathuram Godse, among others.

While there was no confirmation whether or not it was Pandit’s account, the social media handle was taken down hours later.

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