‘Grand home coming’ of ex-students held at SOA

Bhubaneswar, Dec 23: Alumnis of an educational institution should keep in touch with their alma mater and always strive to contribute so that its standard could go up, Prof. Damodar Acharya, Chairman of the Advisory Committee of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA) here said.

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“After passing out of the institute, the student’s relationship continues with the institution and the student has a responsibility towards his or her alma mater,” Prof. Acharya, former Chairman of AICTE and former Director of IIT-Kharagpur, said while addressing a gathering of SOA alumnis on Saturday.

The gathering, dubbed as ‘Grand Home Coming’, was also addressed by Dipanwit Dashmohapatra, actor and former student of the Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), faculty of engineering and technology of SOA, as guest of honour. SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, presided.

Prof. Acharya described himself as a ‘former student’ of SOA recalling that he had received an honorary doctorate from the university at its first convocation. 

Students who had passed out from the university since 2001 attended the event organised by SOA Alumniz.

Mohapatra, who passed out of ITER in 2013, said that the foundation of his career in acting had been laid while he was a student of SOA. He was an active member of SOA drama club ‘Toneelstuk’ and it led him to choose a career in acting.

Dashmohapatra’s role in the Odia film ‘Daman’ was highly acclaimed and he has since acted in other films including in ‘Pratiksha’. He has won several accolades for his acting skills.

Addressing the gathering, he urged the students to come forward to support Odia language, culture and tradition and provide a boost to the Odia film industry. 

Prof. Nanda, who welcomed the former students, said they would remain an inseparable part of SOA. Stating that the students had done well to occupy important positions in varied fields including education, health, industry, business and politics, he urged them to be proud of their alma mater which was ranked 14^th in the country.

Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students Welfare) of SOA, said that the former students of the university would have a prominent role in the nation building process. Ripti Ranjan Dash, Director, Industry Engagement and Corporate Relations, Rajeev Kumar, Deputy General Manager, SOA-Atal Incubation Centre and Dr. Susmita Panda, President of SOA Alumniz also addressed the gathering. 

Twenty of the prominent alumnis of the university were felicitated on the occasion. Abhishek Pattnaik, Convenor of SOA Alumniz, proposed the vote of thanks.