Well-known anthropologist and former Professor and Head of the PG Department of Anthropology of Sambalpur University Prof Deepak Kumar Behera assumed the office of Vice-Chancellor of the Berhampur University (BU) on Thursday, taking charge from the RDC (Southern Division).
Prof Behera is a widely travelled academician who has visited more than 30 countries and is known for his administrative and research acumen. Prior to this new appointment, he was in a German university for three months. His papers and academic works have been widely appreciated by the academic community at national and international levels and he has successfully guided a number of research projects and scholars. Prof Behera was born on November 18, 1956 at Sambalpur and studied at the Sambalpur Zilla School and GM College, Sambalpur. He started his working career as a lecturer at the Sambalpur University in 1985. He served as a guest faculty in different universities across six countries. He has authored nearly 20 books and more than a hundred research papers.
In his brief address after assuming his new office, he said he would give more stress on students’ problems and sought cooperation of all teachers, other staff members and students for an all-round development of the university. He would shortly visit the various departments and hostels to understand the problems of the students and research scholars, he added. Prof Behera was earlier given a rousing welcome by the Registrar and other officers of the university on his arrival at Bhanja Vihar.
About 20 employees who were reportedly dissatisfied with the previous regime were eagerly waiting to welcome the new Vice-Chancellor with bouquets. But two university officers asked them not to welcome the VC at the gate and instructed them to go to their seats or face action. But the employees remained defiant and welcomed Prof Behera after he reached the gate. The VC was extremely cordial towards them.
Prof Behera, after assuming office, convened a meeting of all Heads of the Departments and asked them to remain prepared for the forthcoming visit of the NAAC team to the university. He also directed the Heads of the PG Departments to furnish information about the placement of students, research projects undertaken by the faculty members and their research publications and the number of doctoral and postdoctoral scholars they have produced successfully. “We found our new VC as a good human, polite and democratic in his attitude,” said an insider.