Indian Institute of Technology Madras launched six sponsored Chairs on July 19, 2018 to mark the occasion of 'AlumNite 2018,' held to welcome the 2018 batch, which will graduate on Friday (20th July 2019), into the alumni fold. The Chairs will reward exceptional performance by senior IIT Madras Professors. Selected faculty will be identified as '(Named) Chair' for an initial period of 5 years and financial benefits will be provided. The term may be extended subject to a review at the end of the 5 years.
Speaking about the role of alumni, Prof R. Nagarajan, Dean (International and Alumni Relations), IIT Madras, said, "While alumni contribute to IIT Madras in many ways with their time, talent & treasure, sponsorship of Chairs for currently-serving faculty in the name of retired faculty is an especially delightful way of honouring the past and present. It also paves the path for a bright future by encouraging young faculty to aspire for such accolades."
The Chairs would be endowed with an initial corpus of Rs. 65 lakhs (USD$ 100,000) and would be named by IIT Madras in consultation with the Donor.
The six Chairs which were launched on the occasion are
1. Zoho Chair in Electrical Engineering Department was funded by 'Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd' and the occupant of the Chair is Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi
2. Dr. S R. Rajagopalan Chair in Chemistry Department was funded by D. Chandrasekhar [1970 alumnus] and the occupant of the Chair is Prof. M. V. Sangaranarayanan
3. Prof. M.A. Parameswaran Chair in Mechanical Engineering Department was funded by various donors and the occupant of the Chair is Prof. A. Ramesh.
4. Prof T.T.Narendran Chair in Management Studies Department was funded by various donors.
5. Prof. V. S. Raju Chair in Civil Engineering Department was funded by the family of Prof.V.S. Raju, and the occupant of the Chair is Prof. Ravindra Gettu.
6. Alumni Community Chair was funded by various donors and the occupant of the Chair is Prof. R. Nagarajan.
7. In addition, Prof. S. Ramaprabhu of the Department of Physics has been named to the Prof. EG Ramachandran Chair launched earlier this year.
Fundraising from Alumni
IIT Madras raised a total amount of Rs. 1.39 crore from the 'Joy of Giving' website, a fundraising platform launched during last year's AlumNite Celebrations (July 19, 2017). It is a crowd-funding platform intended to raise funds for institute projects through alumni and corporations from around the globe. The success of this initiative bodes well for online fundraising with quick turn-around for specific purposes. It supplements other efforts throughorganizations such as the IITM Development Office in Chennai, IIT Alumni Association UK, and the IITM Foundation in the U.S. to raise funds for major Endowments.
Recently, the option of 'Online Chat' has been created in the website whereby alumni can reach out to the Office of Alumni Relations directly.
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