VC of Hassan University to take charge on March 23

T.C. Taranath.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

T.C. Taranath, a retired professor of Botany, has been appointed as the first Vice Chancellor of Hassan University. He will assume office in Hassan on March 23. The new university has been formed by bifurcating the University of Mysore. 

Mr. Taranath, a native of Tarikere in Chikkamagaluru district, studied in Shivamogga and Dharwad, before entering into the profession of teaching. He taught Botany in Goa for a couple of years and then joined Karnataka University. He retired as Professor of Botany in November 2022 after teaching for nearly three decades.

Earlier, he worked as Executive Officer of the Karnataka Biodiversity Board in the Department of Ecology and Environment and as Registrar (Administration) of Rani Channamma University, Belagavi. He has done research in the fields of Ecology, Environmental Biology, Phytodiversity, Green Nanotechnology, and In-vitro Toxicology.

When The Hindu contacted him over the phone, Mr. Taranath said he would be reaching Hassan on March 23 to take charge as VC. He had several plans to develop the university in tune with the new National Education Policy and the advances in the fields of technology. “We need to inculcate skills among our students and make them employable. I have several plans to achieve this goal”, he said.

All these years, the colleges in Hassan district were affiliated with the University of Mysore. Now, they would come under the new university. 

The post-graduation centre located on 74 acres of land on the outskirts of Hassan city, on National Highway 75, would be the headquarters for the new university. The campus offers post-graduation courses in Bioscience, Botany, Commerce, Electronics, English, History, Kannada and Mathematics.