Welcome To Jagiroad College
The English department of Jagiroad College was founded in 1979 along with the establishment of the college. In the nascent stage (1979-86) the department offered only BA (Pass Course) and Pre-University programs with the Gauhati University Academic Council’s approval and concurrence of the Government of Assam. Mr. Keshav Sathpathy (native of Cuttack, Odisha) was the founder teacher of the department. Prof. Madhumita Borbora( HOD, Department of English, Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam), and Dr. Mitali Goswami( Retired Associate Professor, Handique Girls’ College, Guwahati, Assam) served the department before the Arts stream of the college was brought under the ambit of then existing “Deficit-Grant-in-Aid” system of the Government of Assam in 1986. In 1987, Dr. Inisi Choudhury Mahanta(the longest serving HOD) and Dr. Kalikinkar Pattanaik(Retired Associate Professor, Khallikote University, Odisha) joined as Lecturers in sanctioned teaching positions. Dr. Dipakjyoti Barua(Professor, MSSV) followed them in 1988. With Dr. Pattanaik's exit, Dibyajyoti Khataniar joined the department in 1991 and worked for two years. Meanwhile, the college opened B.Sc. program in 1986 and the department was involved in teaching a mandatory English course for budding Science undergraduates. In September 1993 Dr. Md. Sohail Ahmed joined the department as a Lecturer. In the following year the department offered English Major program with the approval of the Gauhati University. The first batch of BA English Major successfully completed their program in 1998. In 1999 the department was sanctioned an additional teaching position and Dr. Jita Baruah joined as the fourth Lecturer of the department. Sanjib Dalai( Assam Civil Service, at present Additional Deputy Commissioner), Satwati Bhuyan( Legal Head, Northeast Circle, Indus Towers and a former NE Doordarshan English newsreader), Madhav Chandra Nath( MBA Executive, IIM Lucknow and Regional Manager, Usha International Limited, Kolkata), Biswapran Sarma Bordoloi (Chief Manager, SBI, Maligaon Branch, Guwahati), Rilumani Deka (Assistant Professor, Bhuragaon College, Morigaon, Assam) and Bikash Konwar ( HR-Lead Manager, Tata Trusts, Guwahati) were among the early achievers of the English Major program. In 2003 the department was actively involved in the First Cycle of NAAC Assessment and Accreditation. By the turn of the first decade of the twenty-first century, the four teachers of the department immersed themselves in PhD research activities in multidisciplinary areas like Fiction of Bronte Sisters, Literary Contributions of late and early twentieth century Assamese Civil Servants, Metaphoric Instantiations in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Fiction and Urban Folklore. Subsequently they were all awarded PhD degrees by the Gauhati University and the IIT Guwahati. As semester system in Undergraduate programs was introduced in 2011 by the Gauhati University the department enthusiastically involved in it. In 2016, during the Second Cycle of NAAC’s Reassessment and Reaccreditation process also the department actively participated in it. With the introduction of new academic programs in the college like MTM, B. Com and B.Voc the department was engaged in teaching-learning and evaluation processes of English Communication and Business Communication courses integrated with them. Since 2016, the department has seen a steady increase in its Honours program, extenuation of dropouts, remarkable improvement in examination results and increased rate of progress to higher education have been positive trends. With the introduction of the UGCBCS in 2019 by the Gauhati University, the department has been able to re-align its teaching-learning strategies to suit the required multidisciplinary orientation of arrays of courses offered. During the Covid pandemic, the department proactively involved itself in online teaching-learning and assessment activities. Faculty members offered individual and group counselling to the distraught learners as much as they could. As the two senior teachers Dr. Inisi Choudhury Mahanta(2018) and Dr. Dipakjyoti Barua(2020) superannuated, the department has been infused with fresh spirits by the joining of Klirni Terangpi(2020) and Anindita Kar( 2022) as Assistant Professors. Both are pursuing their PhD studies (East Asian Literature and American Poetry) and are published poet-translators. At present the two Associate Professors(Dr. Md. Sohail Ahmed and Dr. Jita Baruah) and the two talented Assistant Professors (Klirni Terangpi and Anindita Kar) are ably assisted by three former students (Lupamudra Hazarika, Paartha Protim Bora and Kosturika Aniruddha) as Teaching Assistants.
