Late Dr. Khushu-Lahiri, an illustrious alumna of IIT Kanpur, obtained her PhD in English under the supervision of Professor R. K. Gupta. Her brilliant academic career is marked by a number of awards and recognitions including the Fulbright Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Minnesota, USA, UGC Postdoctoral Fellowship, Associateship at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla and the British Council Grant at Oxford University. Dr Khushu-Lahiri started her teaching career in St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad. In 2006, she joined the department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Roorkee, and later in 2011, she moved to IIT Ropar where she headed the department of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Mr. Somdeb instituted Dr. Rajyashree Khushu Lahiri Memorial Lecture Series that is conducted by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Prof. Sachidanand Mahanty delivered a lecture on Cosmopolitanism in an Age of Insularity and Xenophobia on 8th Nov. 2019 at the Department of HSS at IITK. Prof. Mohanty, Adjunct Professor at the School of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Auro University, was formerly Professor and Head, Department of English, University of Hyderabad and Vice Chancellor of the Central University of Orissa. Currently, he is a Member of the Governing Board of Auroville Foundation, administered by the MHRD, Government of India. He is the recipient of several national and international awards, including the British Council, the Salzburg, the Katha and the Fulbright. He has to his credit 27 books in English and in Odia
Ms. J. Devika delivered a lecture on "Where is the Love? Thoughts on Kamala (Das) Surayya's Affective Politics" on 5 March, 2019. Ms. J. Devika is a feminist researcher and teacher at the Centre for Development Studies, Kerala. She has contributed to the literature on the history of gender, development, politics, and culture of modern Kerala. Her work is interdisciplinary, and she brings to bear her training as a historian on contemporary issues. She is interested in opening up the boundaries between academic, public and pedagogic discourses, the social sciences and humanities, and English and Malayalam. She has authored several books, and her interdisciplinary research has been published in global, national, and local journals. She also translates literature and social science between Malayalam and English and occasionally writes for children, besides offering commentary on contemporary politics in Kerala.
