The Department of Sociology is one of the oldest post-graduate departments of Utkal University and the first Sociology P.G. Department of the state of Odisha. It was initially introduced as a paper in the Department of Economics with a grant from the Ford Foundation in 1956. In 1970, Sociology subject was introduced as a Master Degree Programme along with Labour Welfare subject in the Department of Sociology and Labour Welfare. Four years later in 1974, separating from Labour Welfare Department an Independent Department of Sociology came into being with Master Degree programme. Prof.R.N.Srivastava and Dr.Girish Chandra Roy were some of the founding faculty members of the Department.
The M.Phil programme and Pre-Ph.D. course work were started in 1988 and 2011 respectively. The Department had successful history of running self-financing courses i.e. P.G.Diploma in Rural Development started in 2002 and Master in Rural Development started in 2006. Witnessing its Golden Jubilee Year 2019 (counting from the opening of the Sociology with Master Degree programme in 1970) the Department had organised an International Conference on the topic “Interrogating the Trends of Rural Development and Social Transformation in South Asia” in collaboration with Indian Sociological Society (ISS) in 2019. Recently a Round Table Conference on “Quality Journalism: Education, Media Ethics and Social Justice” was hosted by the Department of Sociology, in collaboration with UNESCO and WJEC in 2021.
During its past years, the Department has produced excellent academic and non-academic luminaries including Vice Chancellor, Padmashree Awardee, World class academicians, film director, M.P, I.A.S, I.P.S, Allied civil servants, O.F.S, O.A.S, N.G.O specialists, entrepreneurs, artists, social workers and politicians.
The Department updates its course curriculum from time to time keeping in view the market needs, feedback of the out-going students and curriculum and syllabus prescribed by UGC and UPSC. The Department has introduced three unique papers such as Sociology of Environment and Climate change, Sociology of Development induced Displacement and Rehabilitation & Resettlement and Voluntary Sector Studies in its master programme.
As a leading teaching institute, the Department holds workshops, seminars, webinars, conferences and symposium regularly related to social issues, gender issues, human right issues, course curriculum themes and development & environment issues.
Vision
Transform the Department into a centre of academic excellence with focuses on innovative teaching, learning, research, extension activity and consultancy. To build an enlightened, creative and pragmatic student community by stimulating innovation, creativity and scholarship, fostering equality and gender sensitivity, cultivating openness of mind and catholicity of outlook, promoting respect for human dignity and imbibing transparent and accountable citizenship among students at large.
Mission
To expose students to upcoming social issues, their in-depth understanding with a sense of commitment to quality, sensitivity to others and sustainable society, to create and disseminate knowledge through interdisciplinary research and to provide a platform with free flow of ideas for academic excellence.
Distinction
In skilling the students through field based experiences, self learning and extension activities with community linkages that enable them to become real change makers of the society. The Department organizes skill development workshops for college teachers to appraise the updated developments in the discipline and acquaint them with the upcoming teaching contents and methods for a desired academic outcome.
| Sl.No. | Name | Designation | Qualification | Phone No. | View Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dr. Papesh Kumar Lenka | Assistant Professor | papeshkumar@utkaluniversity.ac.in | M.A, Ph.D | View | |
| 2 | Dr. Dinabandhu Sahoo | Assistant Professor | sahoo.dinabandhu16@gmail.com | Ph.D | 7873763325 | View |
| 3 | M/S. Sasmita Soren | Assistant Professor | sasmitasoren@utkaluniversity.ac.in | M.Phil | View | |
| 4 | Dr. Tanaya Mohanty | Assistant Professor | tanayamohanty@utkaluniversity.ac.in | M.A. M.Phil. (University of Hyderabad), Ph.D. (Jawaharlal Nehru University), Post-Doctoral Research (University of Sydney). | View | |
| 5 | Prof. Rabindra Garada | Professor and Head | rabindragarada@rediffmail.com | M.A & M.Phil (J.N.U. New Delhi ) and Ph.D. (Utkal University) in Sociology. | 9437517126 | View |