Bhubaneswar: In a first, New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) will now have a woman Vice-Chancellor. Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, a professor from Savitribai Phule Pune University has been appointed as the university’s VC for a tenure of five years. A political scientist and JNU alumnus, Pandit’s appointment comes after acting JNU VC, M Jagadesh Kumar was made chairperson of the University Grants Commission.
After completing her post-graduation from Presidency College in Chennai, Pandit completed her MPhil and PhD in International relations from JNU. Her PhD thesis was on the topic ‘Parliament and Foreign Policy in India – The Nehru Years.’
She was born in St Petersburg, Russia on July 15, 1962. She has been in the teaching profession since 1988. From 1985, she has been into research. A multilingual academician, Pandit is also a member of several reputed organisations like American Studies Research Institute, Hyderabad, the Indian Association of American Studies, the All India Political Science Association, the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, the Indian Secular Society, among others. She also has two books— ‘Parliament and Foreign Policy in India’ (1990) and ‘Restructuring Environmental Governance in Asia-Ethics and Policy’ 2003 to her credit.
Her father was an author. Her mother was a professor of Tamil and Telugu languages.