Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribag

English

ENGLISH

English

1. INTRODUCTION

The University Department of English, VBU, is an iconic presence. It has a well earned reputation for its progressive and innovative outlook towards teaching and research in the fields of language and literature studies in English. It commenced as a postgraduate centre of Ranchi University at the century old St Columbas College, Hazaribag, in 1983, with Prof S N Sinha as the first Head of Department. It had a unique ambience, ensconced in the COHSSIP room in the Victorian architecture of the old block of the college, producing a stream of talented students through its portals year after year. At the helm was also Prof M L Das, who later joined as the first Pro Vice Chancellor of VinobaBhave University, officiating as its Vice Chancellor as well for a brief period. Prof S P Misra and Prof R N Jha were on the faculty team. When VinobaBhave University came into existence in 1992, the premises were shifted to the building of the Government Teachers Training College near Hazaribag Lake where all departments ran in some three odd rooms.

The Department was relocated in the Vigyan Bhawan of the present Sindoor campus in 2001, on the top floor of the edifice that resembles coincidentally the initial Elizabethan public theatre, The Swan. Since then it has been a bit itinerant like most other departments of the young university that is blooming architecturally in phases. It moved to the MBA building and then to the present station at Rabindranath Tagore Bhawan, on the first floor, the classrooms overlooking the Vinodini Tarwey enclosure and park and the goldmohur trees flanking the south boulevard of the university on the north and the unpopulated maidan nestling between the girls hostel and the imposing engineering college workshop on the east. The Department, during these years, has been led by several academicians like Dr B P Misra, Prof Yamuna Prasad and Dr (Mrs) Mani Sinha. Dr (Mrs) KakoliJoardar and Dr. Rajesh Kumar. It is at present moving fast to achieve its goals under the dynamic headship of Dr. Rizwan Ahmad. The department has learned and experienced faculty members.

A unique feature of the Department is its spirit to lead through examples personal and academic. It is a repository of constructive ideas and actions, providing valuable inputs to the overall growth of the university.