Teachers' Day at JIS University

 For some reason, each department does their own celebration- making it tough for me to attend all. Anyway, what I saw at the Law and Computer Science depts. was good. Creative impersonation of faculty - many of them, and dances and songs were the highlights. One shayari performance too. We enjoyed it. Pics-

With Samrendra, a student, and the Dean of Engineering.

Performers -included a Mouth Organ player!

Dance, and below, an imitation of the HoD by Rajshree of Comp. Science! He was right there!

Labani Bannerjee-a student from the Law Dept. sings

Eventful Week at JIS University

 We started our Induction for the new batch of students across 8 departments. Largest numbers were in Computer Science and Pharmacy-UG programs, followed by many others including Law, Agriculture, Education, Earth Sciences and so on.. We also had a Moot Court competition conducted by the Law Department. All in all, quite a few interesting things happening all around us. 

And I attended a bit of the program at Austin tower, where our Management students came in..

Hillol, our cultural troupe of faculty and students, performs at the induction program. After listening to our speeches, the students needed this..

Above- a pic with judges for the Moot Court competition, and HoD of the Law Dept.. I talked about Perry Mason and the series starring Raymond Burr.

The ducks from our pond in campus also wanted to attend the induc-k-tion! They marched in!

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

 Made in JIS is a competition that enables students in teams to propose innovative ideas that can be turned into commercial products, after planning and mentoring through an incubator. We had a competitive evaluation through our faculty, Debmitra Ghosh, who coordinated the event, and a distinguished panel of judges. Ms. Jaspreet Kaur, Director, JIS group is the chief supporter and patron of this event.

We were at the inauguration of the finale, termed the Celeb edition, recently. Some pics- 

Jury members, VC, and Ms. Jaspreet Kaur, along with us Pro VCs. Above.

One of the jury members, being felicitated. Above.

Offices- Current and Past

 My offices in pics, over the years-

Alumni Meet of JIS University School of Management

 We had the inaugural meet of JIS School of Management yesterday. It was a lot of fun, with alumni from the BBA, MBA and the Ph.D. programs attending. It was a rainy day, so the weather was cool, and the audi at Austin Tower campus was full. We had the VC and Pro-Chancellor speaking to express their delight. The program was well-organised, with some music and dance, and lots of nostalgia in the air! One of the BBA alums flew in from Bangalore,, where she works for Google! We had Adwitiya Datta Banik, an influencer on Social Media, and Mr. Imran Zaki, who's been the Alumni Association head for St. Xavier's, encouraging all our alums to give back, and enjoy the feeling of camaraderie that meeting friends and faculty can bring. I agree.

Some pics. 

Students performing - above and below.

Below, Adwitiya Banik, who was a special guest. She's a visiting faculty and social media influencer.

A Month in Kolkata

 I have now lived here for over a month. I commute around 40 minutes each way to work, and it's not too bad. North Kolkata, where the campus is located, is semi-rural, and not as crowded as the rest of the city.

With my Exec. Assistant Shrabani, in my office

Below, view from my window 

Below- visit to the Agriculture dept. along with the Pro-Chancellor, VC and the other Pro-VC

 

The JIS University campus has multiple programs, in two or three different locations. The Management programs are in the heart of New Town area, a relatively new residential and commercial area. Salt Lake is not far from there, as also Eco Park, a huge park I am yet to visit. It has a Golf course within, so a good reason to go there!

The Agriculture dept. is near Kalyani, about an hour's drive, because 50 acres of land is needed for crop development and practical training of students.

Engineering, Education, Law, Pharmacy, Earth Sciences and a couple of other departments are located where I sit, and Hotel Management in another nearby location. 

The group also has other colleges, and is in the process of setting up a Veterinary Science college, the first by a private entity in the State.

Getting familiar with the workings of various departments and programs, and the students of some of the programs. It is a big group, with over 40,000 students in all, spread across the university and other institutions. Pretty competitive in terms of fees as well.

Hoping to improve admission processes, and interaction with industry. Maybe play some Golf as well, if possible.

A New Adventure Begins

 Joined JIS University on April 29th as Pro-Vice Chancellor. It's a private university with campuses in Kolkata and nearby. Spans a range of departments from Pharmacy, Science, Law, Management, Engineering to Agriculture and others.

My office is in Agarpara, on the outskirts of North Kolkata. There are possibilities of increasing reach, awareness, and perhaps upgrading the student and faculty experience, alumni support and so on. Probably similar to some experiences of mine elsewhere in a wide variety of institutions, or business schools. Other priorities will be set after discussions with colleagues at the top level and faculty, students, alumni.

Looking forward to also catching up with friends in the East, and visitors of different kinds- official guest lecturers to personal friends. I have a possible Golf-playing opportunity too, to be explored. Will keep readers posted. It's early days yet..

Time for a New Adventure

 I last lived in the East in 1991-92, with mixed results. Had some dreams, and some went unanswered. But that was my initiation into Indian academia, which was quite different from the American academia then.

Since then, many experiences across India have shaped my worldview. Lucknow, Kozhikode (Calicut), Indore, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Harihar, Bangalore were some places I lived in, and Delhi, briefly. Met so many nice people along the way-staff, students and colleagues. Yes, bosses too, including directors and promoters. Some had lots of traffic, and some had little!

Now it's time for a new adventure. With new challenges, perhaps. I am going in as one of two Pro Vice Chancellors to JIS University Kolkata, soon. Part of a larger group of organisations and institutes. Looking forward to it!