Paper Details

Name: Anupam Vatsyayan
Country: India

Year: 2018
Volume: Volume-5, Issue-1 & 2 (Combined Issue)
Page Number: 1-8

Prof. Manju Jaidka is a name to reckon with in the widespread academic circle. This year, in October, after a long (more than 40 years), joyous, and rewarding journey as a teacher, she entered the phase of retirement from active service. In addition to the numerous administrative responsibilities which she shouldered during her illustrious career, like being the former Chairperson of the Department of English at Panjab University, Chandigarh,Director of the university IAS Study Centre, andconvenerof various committees, examinations and decision-making bodies, her main concern remains to forge an international network of like-minded academics for the exchange of scholarship, a task she has been successfully engaged in over the last two decades.
Her national and international assignments over the past four decades have been inspirational for many. She has been travelling and lecturing extensively in India as well as the US, UK, Europe, Canada, China, Nepal, etc. In addition, she is the recipient of prestigious fellowships, including a Fulbright and two Rockefellers. Throughout her career, she undertook assignments at universities like Oxford, Harvard, Yale, Illinois, Iowa, New York, and Concordia. Back home, as the Chairperson of the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi from 2008-15, she made tremendous contribution towards the promotion of literature and culture in Chandigarh by organizing lit fests, book reading sessions, critical discussions, and literary events. She is presently the chief functionary of MELOW (the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World). In this capacity, over the last twenty years, she has been organizing international conferences successfully every year. Additionally, Jaidka has held the post of Executive Director of the International American Studies Association and also serves on the advisory board of several international organizations.