Department of History

Year of Establishment: 1950

While teaching of History Honours began in Ravenshaw College in 1912, PG programme in History was introduced in 1950. However, the administrative and academic responsibilities of the Department of History were taken over by Utkal University in 1959 which had been functioning from Ravenshaw College since 1943. The PG Department of History finally shifted to Vani Vihar in Bhubaneswar with the re-location of Utkal University to Bhubaneswar in 1962. The PG programme in history in Ravenshaw College was, however, reintroduced in 1980. The present day Orissa State Museum was similarly crafted from the Museum of the History department of Ravenshaw College which had started functioning in 1932. The Department, at present, offers UG, PG, M. Phil and Ph. D. programmes. There are 32 seats at UG, 64 seats at PG and eight seats at M. Phil level. Ph. D. positions vary according to vacancy. At the master’s level, Modern and Contemporary History as well as Ancient Indian History and Archaeology are offered as special papers. The faculty strength of the department comprises one Professor, two Associate Professors and four Assistant Professors along with one visiting Professor and three guest faculty members. Our faculty specialise in and are leading / have led research in paleography, archaeology, medieval history in South Asia, and modern Indian history. The Department has collaborated with Centre of Medicine, Ethics, Society and History (MESH) of the Birmingham University to undertake a collaborative research on public health and ethics. Recently, an MOU was effected with Aarhus University in Denmark.