Who is Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, the first woman vice-chancellor of JNU

New Delhi: The Ministry of Education on Monday (February 7) appointed professor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit as the first woman vice-chancellor of the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University

"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," PTI reported quoting a senior Ministry of Education official.

Who is Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit?

Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit 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'.

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.

Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit’ reaction

"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," Pandit said in a statement.

The professor said that her focus would be on the implementation of the National Education Policy and providing a gender-sensitive environment for academic excellence.

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."

Outrage over Pandit's appointment

Soon after the appointment was made public, students, as well as a section of social media, started protesting against Pandit being given the new post due to some of her controversial old tweets against JNU protests.

Many on social media are accusing her of being Islamophobic. 

Following the outrage, Pandit deleted her Twitter account.

(With PTI inputs)

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