Dept Reports - St. Xavier`s College

Department Reports
Ancient Indian Culture
This year has been an extremely special
roller-coaster ride for all the Ancient
Indian Culture students. The academic
year included a variety of activities and
field trips. Our Departmental activities
have not been limited to the college,
but have also included various field
trips and workshops, making it an
excellent experience overall.
One of the earliest activities was the
Portuguese course in collaboration
with the Consulate General of Brazil.
It was held in July. Rafael Godhino,
the new Deputy Consul General of
Brazil whose teaching has been an
inspiration to all students, held the
lectures twice a week.
The Heritage on Canvas competition
and exhibition was conducted in
collaboration with the Museum Society
of Bombay on the 28th of July, 2011.
This event was sponsored by Mr.
Sheikh Motamid and was open to
all colleges across Mumbai. These
canvases depicted paintings of different
forms, namely- food, festivals and
monuments!
In the month of August Prof.
Anita Rane organized a number of
workshops in the college premises
based on Pottery and Terracotta
Jewellery in collaboration with the J.J.
School of Arts. The Pottery workshop
was held on the 30th of August for all
CIA and Honors students as part of
their paper on Heritage Management.
The CIA included the workshop in
addition to a report cum assignment
based on Indian Pottery.
based on Jainism was held on the
26th of August wherein Mr. Abhan
Mukherjee, a member of the board
of the Museum Society of Bombay
showcased this film. The main focus
was to educate the students of the
doctrine of Jainism as well as the
relevance of Jain concepts today.
The film ‘Samyukta’ addressed the
misconceptions on the Jain religion,
while documenting the philosophies
and doctrines of Jainism.
The workshop on making Clay
Ganesha was held on the 3rd of
September at the Chhatrapati Shivaji
Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. Professor
Anita Rane-Kothare conducted it. The
workshop was organized to celebrate
the joyous festival of Ganesh Chaturthi
to aid the children suffering from
cancer. The main aim of the workshop
was to educate the children about
the significance and mythology of
the festival. They were also not only
informed about the importance of
using eco-friendly Ganesha Idols, but
also taught to make their own ecofriendly Ganesha Idols.
The most awaited trip of the year was
the cultural tour to Orissa. Different
parts of Orissa like Puri, Bhubaneswar
and Konark, Hirapur, Ratnagiri and
Lalitgiri were visited. Special emphasis
was placed on the Indian Heritage and
cultural aspect of the state. The Konark
Sun Temple, Jagannath Puri, Udaygiri
and Khandagiri caves were among the
few heritage sites that were visited.
The Alibaug trip as per syllabus
requirements was organized for
the purpose of studying the Jewish
Community settlement. It consisted
of visits to the ancient synagogue as
well as the Khanderi and Underi fort.
Heritage walks were also arranged to
the site that witnessed the departure
of Prophet Elijah. This trip was part
of eco- tourism. Mrs. Marina Dutta
was invited to give a guest lecture.
The study trip for the T.Y’s was
organized to the Shaiva caves of
Mandapeshwar and Jogeshwari and
the Buddhist caves of Karla, Bhaja
and Bedsa. As a part of Museology
course, a field trip to the Nhava Sheva
port and museum was organized in
collaboration with the Museum society
of Bombay. Mrs Marina Dutta was
invited to give a talk on the site. Field
visits to exhibitions like the Navy
exhibition at CSMVS was also a part
of this tour. A workshop on Kalighat
The Befriending Museums workshop
was also carried out in collaboration
with the Museum society of Bombay.
This was a two-day workshop,
highlighting the importance and
significance of Museums. The
workshop focused on three galleries
in particular- The Sculpture Gallery,
Museum Gallery and the ProtoHistory Gallery.
The Screening of ‘Samyukta’, a film
Cave Visits
87
paintings was also a part of this show.
For the better understanding of
the study of our heritage, Siddhi
Deshpande, an ex-Xavierite spoke of
the many career options that one could
choose through Archaeology. Siddhi
Deshpande is currently studying at
the Deccan College and is specializing
in Archaeology. The T.Y’s were lucky
to also have Mr. Atre Chhaya’s talk
on Ajanta and the new Interpretation
Centre at Ajanta that would be ready in
the coming year. Prachi Dalal another
well-known speaker conducted a very
interesting lecture on the Economic
Dimensions of Heritage Sites.
Rajputana: Vividha, the annual
festival of the Ancient Indian Culture
department was held on the 4th and
5th of January 2012 based on the
splendid theme - Rajputana. The
Department organized an intercollegiate competition that was called,
‘Rajputana on Canvas’ in collaboration
with the Museum Society of Bombay.
Rutu Jadhav(TYBA) won a prize for the
best poster on the music of Rajasthan.
The two-day workshop on Heritage
and Conservation was organized
by the Ancient Indian Culture
Department at St. Xavier’s College
Mumbai in collaboration with the
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu
Sangrahalaya, the Department of
Gazetteers of Maharashtra and the
Museum Society of Bombay in
the April 2012. The workshop had
esteemed speakers such as Dr. Shereen
Ratnagar, Mr. Manager Singh, Mr.
Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Dr. Shrikanth
Jadhav, Dr. Rishikesh Samanth,
Dr.Prasanna Mangrulkar,Prof. Anita
Rane-Kothare, Marina Dutta, Dr.
Suraj Pandit, Dr. Kurush Dalal, Dilip
Ranade, Dr, Arunchandra Pathak
nd Mr. Omkar Kadu. The themes
discussed were inclusive of Heritage
and the importance of Archaeology,
Archaeology and its relation with
the other Sciences, historical facets of
Maharashtra, befriending Museums,
science and the art of Museology, art
and chemistry of conservation and
conservation of monuments.
Prof. Anita Rane presented papers in:
Staff Achievements:
• BarodaattheEpigraphicalSociety
of mural on ‘The early discovery
and evidences of Sati’ in Surat from
the Pathare Prabhu community.
Dr. Radha Kumar was invited as a
judge for several intercollegiate events.
She was also invited to deliver a lecture
at the Nalanda school of Dance.
Prof. Anita Rane-Kothare was invited
to deliver a lecture at Observer’s
research foundation on cave
architecture in Mumbai. The entire
lecture was viewed on YouTube.
• an International conference on
‘The newly discovered Prehistoric
Rock art in Western Maharashtra’,
which was organized by the
Archaeological society of India
in Trivandrum.
• The convocation hall of
University of Mumbai, for
Asiatic society of Bombay
the structural temples of
Rashtrakutas in Maharashtra.
the
the
on
the
• MaharashtraRajyaItihaasParishad
on ‘The Influence and the worship
of Turjabhavani in Jainism and
Buddhism’.
• The Konkan Itihaas Parishad
held in Thane in Marathi on
‘The Paschim Maharashtratil
Katalshilpe’.
She published a paper called ‘The
Parel Jiva’ in the St. Xavier’s College
Journal, Xplorer.
Ms. Anita Rane - Kothare
Head, Department of Ancient
Indian Culture
Bachelor of Management Studies
The Bachelor of Management Studies
Department at St. Xavier’s College aims
to provide opportunities for all-round
student development.
Honours Programme:
The department of BMS has always
tried to include diverse and meaningful
courses as a part of the Honours
programme.ODIN was one such
programme.
ODIN- Open Dealers Integrated
Network
ODIN Program Trading is a special
trading application that facilitates autoexecution of the trades based on the
selected strategies. Program Trading
can be used to take advantage of
arbitrage/spread opportunities that
exist across the Cash and Futures
or Calendar Spread in various
Exchanges like MCX, MCX Stock
Exchange to cater the segments like
Commodities, Currency, Equities and
Derivatives. The application has a
built-in intelligence to search for the
opportunities that exist in the market
as per the yield and other criteria
defined by the user.Sessions were
conducted on Derivatives, Futures and
Equity shares, short term and long
term investments and also on the BSE
and NSE.The students learnt how to
effectively use the ODIN software to
buy and sell shares in the market.The
Honours programme was a success and
we are happy that we could extend
this knowledge to our students.
88
Workshops and Guest Lectures
-
Bernice Priscilla Paradesi
-Executive Procurement, Bayer
CropScience on Supply Chain
Management
-
Mr. Satyen Sodha, CISA, CFA on
Multi Commodity Exchange
-
Mr. Rohit Dangi, CA, CS on
Portfolio Management
-
Mr. Anurag Asthana (Deputy GMRBI) on Banking Industry in India
-
Mr. Suraj Sanap, RTI activist on
Right to Information Act.
-
Crystal Baretto, Asst. Manager,
ETIG, Economic Times on Mind
Mapping.
Management Festival –
Pandemonium
“Pandemonium – Organized Chaos”
2011 was held on the 9th and 10th
of December. The theme this year was
“GREENOVATION”, which focused on
the need to claim our depleting energy
resources and to initiate an innovative
way to engage students to participate
in the global green movement. A
special pre-event PR activity - the
‘Tree Plantation and Cleaning Drive’
- A mission of planting 100 saplings
at Manorma Society, Jogeshwari (East),
was conducted on Tuesday, 6th of
December. It proved to be a very
productive and enjoyable experience.
A total of 14 colleges and PGDM
institutes were invited and they came
in large numbers. The participation of
the PGDM institutes in a college event
was a first of its kind in Mumbai.
The events were conducted in various
venues on campus and each event
was special in its own way. While
the Green HR event brought about a
healthy discussion and gave plenty to
think about, Green Microfinance was a
real eye-opener into the realm of the
microfinance industry. Analyze This
was specially well received due to its
business implications and inferences
drawn by the judges and participants
.Last but not the least , Cash That
Trash really brought a smile on the
faces of many as the creative spark
of the participants was seen and the
emphasis of making every small thing
count was brought to the fore. R.A.
Podar College emerged as the winners
of Pandemonium'11 Organised Chaos.
St. Xavier’s came as the runners-up.
Placements
The promising students of BMS were
able to deliver on the expectations
of the college and corporates alike.
From BMS, out of 30 students who
actively participated in the process
with the placement cell, 25 were short
listed for various placements and 20
students got an offer letter and were
made part of various companies.
Also, many processes are ongoing.
The BMS students were offered a
variety of profiles ranging from
Banking & Finance, Sales & Marketing
to Consulting and HR. There were
industry leader like Aon Hewitt, Bain,
D.E. Shaw, Google, Citibank etc. The
chief highlight of the process was
the diverse range of profiles and the
average salary was close to Rs. 4,00,000
annually with the highest pay being
Rs. 12,00,000 p.a. offered by Mckinsey
& Co.
The industry support for the
current batch exceeded expectations,
considering the current global
economic scenario. The recruiters were
particularly happy with the conceptual
knowledge and personality grooming
of students and proposed to extend
this relationship with a number of
internships being offered to the SYBMS
students.
Management Dossier:
The Management Dossier was
launched by the BMS department this
year with the theme, ‘A step AHEAD’.
It was launched encompassing many
articles on emotional intelligence,
responsibility, leadership, the art of
multitasking in addition to many
other views shared by professors and
students of the college.
Young Indians (Yi)
The B.M.S. students of St. Xavier’s’
College – in collaboration with the CII
Young Indians Initiative Committee –
successfully hosted the Heritage Week
from the 25th -27th of August. The
first activity conducted was the visit to
the Heras Institute of Indian History
and Culture, where we saw some
beautiful representative images and
statues of major religious groups, ritual
vessels and Nepali artifacts. Miniature
paintings, illustrated manuscripts
of Madhumalati, an
exquisite piece of
Kotah art of 1771 A.D.,
Indian Christian Art,
rare book and map
collections; terracotas
from the GraecoParthian period, Indus
Valley scripts, seals that
range from the 3rd
millennium B. C. to the
Assyrian period were
just some of the many
collections on display
89
at the museum. A heritage movie
‘The Merchant Princes of Bombay’
was showcased. It was a documentary
on how substantial the contribution
of yesteryear Bombay's Merchant
Princes was, and how important
this 150-year old contribution is to the
ongoing life of this city. There was also
a short film on the various heritage
structures of Delhi such as the Qutab
Minar, Humayun Tomb, India Gate,
Jantar Mantar, Purana Quila and of
course, Red Fort. Simultaenously, Yi
also conducted an online marketing
competition called : Indian Heritage:
Dawn Of Glory - The objective being
to create a realistic business plan of
a marketing strategy for a chosen
Heritage Structure of Mumbai hence
giving an opportunity for students
to creatively showcase their feelings
about the rich and cultural heritage
monuments of our beloved city,
Mumbai.
We concluded the heritage week with a
‘Heritage Walk’ of south Mumbai with
different students of Young Indians
posing as ‘guides’ and giving the history
and other relevant information about
the different sites . We walked past
the following heritage sites: Asiatic
Society of Mumbai, Horniman
Circle Gardens , Bombay Samachar
,St. Thomas Cathedral and Flora
Fountain.
NEWSPAPER COLLECTION DRIVE
FOR NAB
Recognizing the ever present
generosity and compassion towards
the Differently Abled of Mumbai, the
students of St. Xavier's College (Yi net)
in collaboration with NAB (National
Association for the Blind) conducted
a Paper Drive on our campus from
the 15th to the 17th of September’11.
The response from the students as well
as the staff of the college was indeed
overwhelming. Books, Magazines,
Newspapers, etc. were donated in large
numbers. Over 1000 odd newspapers
were collected apart from boxes of
scrap paper and books. Each donor
was given a chocolate as a token of
appreciation towards their generosity.
This paper drive helped overcome the
current problem faced by NAB, who
were earlier buying papers at higher
rates from radiwallas and scrap dealers
and at the same time helped them in
their paper-bag making business.
The representatives at NAB were
pleasantly surprised on seeing the
response from the students and
expressed deep gratitude towards the
college for their help and support.
WORLD FOOD WEEK:
We raised over Rs 5000 for the Akshay
Patra Foundation , an organization
which provides mid-day meals to
children in Mumbai at a minimal
cost. This drive, we believe also helped
in spreading awareness about World
Hunger.
E-WASTE AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
The E-waste awareness campaign is the
St. Xavier’s Yi Net’s year end project.
We are conducting our campaign this
month. Many companies for instance
Nokia and Panasonic have begun
their own missions to recycle e-waste.
In case of schools,Environmental
education is a compulsory subject.
However there is a large gap between
the companies recycling e waste and
the consumers producing e waste.
Our awareness campaign would be a
great way to put these two parties in
contact. A power-point presentation
on e-waste will be shown to school
children to sensitize students about
e-waste and the companies involved
with recycling of e-waste. Pamphlets
will be distributed to the housing
societies in our neighborhood to
spread awareness.
Cii-Yi is the student’s wing of the
Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII). In the academic year 201011, Yi-Xavier's organized a number
of activities and events: The Yi: The
Great Books Collection Drive - Large
volumes of old textbooks, notes,
novels, magazines, newspapers and
more were received over the three day
event. Books in good condition, were
donated to charities, while the rest
were sent for recycling. The proceeds
from this event served as the seed
fund for Yi-Xavier’s.
The Yi Eco Farm Trip- Not so often
do we get a chance to be on guided
tour of a farm, to ride a tractor, feed
cattle, sit beside a stream, walk past
a stone quarry, visit compost pits and
learn about medicinal plants. The Yi
Eco Farm Trip aimed at providing an
opportunity to explore and connect
with our natural surroundings, and to
brainstorm on steps we could take to
limit our impact on the environment.
Yi : Meet the Leaders of Tomorrow
Yi-Xavier’s members spent an
afternoon with differentially abled
children at Asha Daan, a home for the
destitute run by the Missionaries of
Charity of Mother Teresa. The Cii-Yi
National Conference on the ‘Seamless
Integration of Skilling and Education’
Yi-Xavier’s was proud to host a Cii-Yi
National Conference on the theme
‘Making skilling an integrated part of
education rather than as a ‘convenient
alternative’ to a formal degree’. The
panel included representatives from
the government, the industry, the
academia and students. The conclusion
the panel arrived at was that a seamless
integration of skilling and education
would be possible only if the academia
taught us “what to do” and at the
same time the industry also taught
us “how to do” it.
Yi-Xavier’s also played an instrumental
role in arranging speakers from the
industry for our Management
The Yi Deworming Project (of
administering deworming tablets to
children of low-income schools) is
on cards, and we have planned to
implement the same 2011.
National Entrepreneurship Network
National Entrepreneurship Network
(NEN)the E-Cell of the college was
revived in 2011-2012.Its first event
was held on Tuesday the 17th of
January 2012. This event was in
collaboration with IIT Bombay and
in association with Thakur Institute of
Management Studies and Research. It
was conducted by Mr. Gaurav Parikh,
Managing Director, Growth Avenues
Asset Advisors Pvt. Ltd on Technical
Analysis of Stock Market.The session
on Technical Analysis of Stock Market
conducted by Mr. Gaurav Parikh, was
very informative and provided a strong
base for all us entrepreneurs interested
in entering the area of stocks
The 'E-talk: Turning Passion into
Profession', the second event by
the E-cell was held on Saturday,
18th February, 2012. The speakers
were inspired-entrepreneurs with
alternative yet rewarding business
plans. The event was thronged by
promising young Xavierites eager to
find evocation to their entrepreneurial
catalysts. Avant-garde in their
approach, the speakers shared insights,
speaking of their journeys and efforts
with a subliminal motive of galvanising
the attitude of the pioneer within the
synapses of eagerly impressionable
minds.
Neelam Shetty
Co-ordinator of BMS
"I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal....
I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her."
- Ellen DeGeneres
90
BMM Report 2011-2012
This year has been a blend of academic and extracurricular pursuits for the BMM Department
Orientation week for the FY students:
-Ms. Raksha Shetty, Bureau head, CNN IBN
-Mr. Tarun, Star World
-Ms. Vandana Kakar, Consultant, Ad factors
-Ms. Iyesha Abbas, freelance filmmaker,
-Mr. Abhiskek, the NGO Blue Ribbon.
-Father Terence Quadros, Creative Thinking session.
-Ms Ruchira Banerjee, HERAS on Myths and Mythmakers
-Ms Priyanka Borpujari, effective documentaries
This orientation week was followed by a host of other
activities for the FY, SY and TY students.
-Ms. Asavari Kumar & Mr. Chewang Bhutia: Animation
and Stop Motion Workshop
-Ms. Ruchi Bakshi: Creative Film Making
-Ms. Raksha Shetty: Broadcast Journalism
-Ms. Jasreen Mayal: Creative Writing
-Prof. Dorothy Louise, NYU: Scriptwriting Workshop for the
FY and SY students
-Ms. Naina Hiranandani, Mr. Divyak D’Souza, Ms. Nishita
Mehta and Mr. Animesh Das: Photography, Fashion and
Visual aesthetics
-Media Literacy sessions for the FY students &
-Session on ill effects of Alcoholism and Smoking
The SY students went to Ahemdabad on an industrial visit
from 13th October 2011 to 16th October 2011. They visited
MICA Institute where they had talks from media experts
and saw MICA Vani community radio initiative. They
also visited the publication Divya Bhaskar and the NGO,
SEWA . From Akshardham to the Gandhi Ashram.
International programmes:
-Two SYBMM students, Ms. Trinolda Colaço and
Mr. Sanjay Deshpande were selected to attend the
Harvard College in Asia Programme
-Sneha Reddy has been selected for the Sciences Po
course on a full scholarship
Contemporary Issues Lecture Series-Ms. Shirin Juwaley- Palash Foundation, Ms. Richa Kaul –
‘Point of View’ on Gender Sensitivity
-Ms. Kanchana Sharma who spoke on Violence against
women
-Prof. Sudhakar Solomon spoke on Environmental
Degradation
-Prof. Agnelo Menezes from the Economics Dept. was
invited for a lecture series on Maharashtra’s economy
-As a part of their curriculum the students presented
research paper at the Karnala seminar accompanied
by Prof. Reena Agarwal and Prof. Sudhakar Solomon
Extracurriculars
Our students also participated in many Inter Collegiate
festivals which gave them a lot of experience with the
numerous media events and themes
Polaris - Wilson College:
Blitzkrieg - K.C. College:
Detour - Jai Hind College:
XYZ - St. Andrew’s College
Cutting Chai - R.D. National College:
2nd place
3rd place
3rd place
3rd place
3rd place
2nd Indian Student Parliament organized by MAEER’s
MIT School of Government, Pune: Attended by about
20 FY students - Meghnad Bose & Wayne D’cruz,
(FYBMM) were chosen to question the panelists
On the 21st and 22nd of January our SY students held
Zeitgeist The Media Conference. The speakers for the
talks included stalwarts like:
-Mr. Todd Baer & Mr Avalok Langer: War Journalism
-Filmmaking trends by Mr Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy
-Mr. Roycin D’Souza and Ms. Kiran Manral: Social
Media
-Mr. Madhukar Sabnavis: Creative Advertising
-Mr. Sreekanth Sankar Dass & Mr. Samit Malkani:
Digital & Viral Marketing
-Mr. Nitin Tiwari: Graphic Design
-Ms. Rekha Nigam: Screenplay Writing
-Panel Discussion with Mr. Dhruv Jagasia, Mr. Aditya
Swamy, Mr. Rajeev Raja, & Mr. Vijay Nair: Bands &
Brands
Our annual magazine “Pinata” featured students
writing prowess and also gave a platform to the third
year students to show their skills at marketing, editing
and design and layout using the theme “Uncovering
the Uncommon.”
BMM
2011-2012
91
Biotechnology
The results of the M.Sc batch of 2010
-11, with 8 Distinctions and 19 First
classes out of a total of 28 students,
was a good start for the academic year.
A record of the highlights of the year:
Palindrome 2011:
Palindrome 2011, the third annual
Biotechnolog y
Intercollegiate
fest organised by the students on
November 23rd was very successful.
The events included new programmes
like silent mutations, haunted hunt,
and colour me shiny along with the
old favourites like Migraine, Crime and
clues and Brainvita. Eighteen colleges
and approximately 250 students from
all over Mumbai participated in the
fest. The main sponsor this year was
Lupin Pharmaceuticals .Dr. Cyrus
Karkaria (President, Biotechnology)
and Mr. Shamsher Gorawara (Head,
Corporate communications) were the
chief guests. The social cause associated
with Palindrome 2011 was ‘Literacy’.
The staff and students of the
department worked with REAP
(Reach Education Action Programme
– founded by Fr. Trevor Miranda)
which works towards providing basic
primary education to slum children
and the empowerment of women.
They visited two REAP centers at
Kalwa and Ghatkopar in December
and performed street plays on
“The importance of Hygiene” and
“Educating the girl child”. Along with
spreading awareness about the above
issues, they played with the children
and interacted with the members of
the women’s self help group, discussing
additional issues like cleanliness, the
dangers of tobacco consumption etc.
A donation to the organization was
also made.
In March, the students released
the third issue of the “Palindrome”
magazine, which was distributed to
all event sponsors as well as the
participating colleges.
Khandala Seminar
M.Sc Part I and II students participated
in the 2 day seminar at Khandala.
Poster presentations, by the part II
students, on their summer projects ,
debates on genetically modified food
and stem cell therapies and various
skits on aspects of environmental
biotechnology were the academic
activities. A personality development
session for the students was also held.
Ltd., Mumbai, Establishment of
reference ranges for thyroid hormones
in healthy Indian adults- Super
Religare Laboratories, Assessment of
oxidative stress parameters in murine
model of rabies- Biocon, Bangalore.
Industrial Trip
Pastta Fernandes, Parimal Pereira,
Rushika Pandya& Shefali Banerjee
participated in the seminar on
Interdisciplinary strategies in Biology
conducted by the department of
Microbiology ,Ruia college
Eighteen part II students accompanied
by two faculty members, Dr.Ms. Shiney
Peter and Ms. Varnica Khetrapal,
visited Bangalore and Mysore in
October. They visited the Indian
Institute of Horticultural Research
(IIHR), Merck Specialities Pvt. Ltd
and the Mysore Dairy in Bangalore and
Central Sericulture Reseach Institute
(CSRI) and Labland Pvt Ltd in Mysore.
Summer Projects
A few of the projects completed by
the M.Sc Part II students:
In-situ synthesis and coating of
nanoparticles on various surfaces
and antimicrobial activity of silver
nanoparticles –BARC, Effect of
RAB coupling protein (RCP) on
trafficking of cell adhesion molecules
– NIRRH, Characterization of FTSZ
assembly and modulation FTSZ
polymerization by L-Menthol – IIT
Bombay, Molecular phylogeny of Para
influenza virus (HPIV 1,3 and 4) NIV, Understanding the role of novel
genes in the PHO pathway in yeast
– TIFR, Expression, Purification and
Structural Characterization of BRCA1
Transactivation domain (1560-1859)ACTREC, Molecular Characterisation
and Remediation Potential of Lac-cases
from a Marine- derived Fungus – NIO,
Goa, Towards studying the interactors
of stress-inducible gene bola in green
alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtiiU M - DA E - C B S ,
D i f f e r e nt i a l
susceptibility of bacterial cell towards
ZnO nanoparticles- NCL, Pune,
Determination of Drug Susceptibility
Profiles of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
by Phenotypic and Genotypic Assays.
–FMR, Biotransformation of an
active anti-cancer pharmaceutical
intermediate- Piramal Lifesciences
92
Co-curricular Achievements
• Students were exposed to several
lectures by experts in the field.
Eg. Dr. Ross Bernard, Biotech
Director, University of Queensland,
Australia
• Several M.Sc students were
involved in a collaborative research
project involving St. Xavier’s
College,Fairfield
University
Connecticut, USA and Loyola
college, Chennai
Staff Activities
Dr. Shiney Peter was a resource
person for Animal Tissue Culture at
the
Lecture Workshop on
‘Techniques in Animal Tissue Culture
and Gas
Chromatography’ organized for the
faculty of the Bioscience departments
of our college.
Norine D’Souza and Dr. Ms. Vivien
Amonkar co-guided an in-house
summer project ‘Characterization of
Pholcus spider silk’
Ms. Varnica Khetrapal was the
co-investigator for the UGC
Minor Research Grant
Project
entitled “ Microbial
Synthesis
and characterisation of silver
nanoparticles”
Faculty attended several faculty
development workshops.
Sr. no
Workshop
Date
Venue
Name of the
faculty attended
1
Two day workshop on Applications of Flow
cytometry
Jun-11
ACTREC, Kharghar
Shiney Peter
2
International Symposium on Stem Cells Biology
Jan-12
ACTREC, Kharghar
Shiney Peter
3
Two day workshop on Applications in Bioinformatics
Feb-12
ACTREC, Kharghar
Shiney Peter
4
LTMT sponsored Workshop on expression,
purification and structure analysis of Proteins
Mar-12
SIES College
Shiney Peter
Norine D’Souza
5
International workshop on antimicrobial resistance
Nov-11
Haffkine Institute
Varnica Khetrapal,
John Cyriac
6
Structural Biology & Informatics
Feb-12
University of
Mumbai
Varnica Khetrapal,
John Cyriac
Dr. Ms. Vivien Amonkar
Botany
The staff of Botany department was
involved in many curricular and extracurricular activities of the college in
addition to the honours program of
the college and the regular field trips
compulsory for Botany students.
received the remaining amount and the
additional grant of Rs. 1,45,800.00 for
the project fellow. She was co-ordinator
for the ‘Garden Art’ course which is
a cross-faculty course for Arts, BMM
and BMS students.
Dr. (Mrs.) Ujwala Bapat was a Group
leader for the Indian team participating
in Biology Olympiad held from 8 to
14th July, 2011 at Taiwan. All the
members of the team received silver
medals. She also attended the resource
generation camp for Biology Olympiad
held in September at HBCSE, Mumbai.
Dr. (Mrs.) Bapat helped the Staff of
the Chemistry Department of S.I.E.S.
College, Mumbai, in writing a project
proposal and carrying out the research
work which they duly completed.
They received the project Grant and
successfully completed the project
work.
Mrs. Bapat was a member of Local
organizing Committee for the State
level Seminar on ‘Capitalization of
Herbal Technology’ organized by Birla
College, Kalyan, and attended the
same. She also participated in a threeday National Symposium sponsored
by UGC and organized for Plant
Tissue Culture Association (India)
at St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad
and a UGC sponsored workshop
on ‘Capacity Building of Women
Managers in Higher
Education’
organised by the SNDT university,
Mumbai. She was invited to take M.Sc,
Herbal Science lectures at Birla College
(Part I), Kalyan and Ruia College,
Matunga (Part I and II). She was on
the Panel of Examiners for Herbal
Science M. Sc II Examination held
in March-April, 2012. She went to
Delhi to present a mid-term report
of her UGC Major Research Project.
The progress was satisfactory and she
Dr. Shinde coordinated a course on
Scientific communication skills for
the S.Y.B.Sc. class. He conducted
field trips to SGNP for General
Community, an activity undertaken
by the Department of Extra Mural
Studies, University of Mumbai. He was
invited to conduct the lectures at Ruia
College for Herbal Science (M.Sc. I)
students and at Dapoli College Plant
Taxonomy students (M. Sc. II). He
was a member of Examination Panel
of the University of Mumbai for M.
Sc. II in Botany. He was appointed
as an external referee for Taxonomy at
St. Xavier’s college, Ranchi to approve
the Ph. D. degree thesis topic and to
assess the M.Sc. (by research) thesis
of the University of Pune.
Dr Shinde conducted a three-day
workshop on Modern Techniques in
Plant Taxonomy at the Department
of Botany, University of Gujarat,
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Ahmedabad and two one-day
workshops for Marathi Medium
School Children (8-10 class) on
Nature Quest organized by Nehru
Science Centre, Worli. He helped
to organise a three-day workshop
on “Professional Development
Programme for Principals, VicePrincipals and Administrators “for
Academic Staff College, University of
Mumbai at St. Xavier’s College.
Dr. Shinde went to Pune for a
presentation of the progress report of
the DIMPR project and received a sixmonth extension period. He presented
a poster at the National Conference on
Biodiversity Assessment, Conservation
and Utilization organized by M.E.S.
Garware College, Pune. He delivered a
talk on “Urban Forestry – Mumbai as a
Case Study” at the National Conference
on Urban Forestry organized by
Ratnam College, Mumbai.
Mr. Kevin D’Cruz is a local coordinator
for the "World Survey on Youth
Cultures in the
Catholic University", an International
Project promoted by the Centre for
Coordination of Research of the
International Federation of Catholic
Universities.
Mr. D’Cruz was a resource person
for "ICT for administration and
Academics" at the Professional
Development Programme for
Academic Administrators and
Principals organized by the UGC
Academic Staff College. He also
conducted an ICT in Higher Education
Training workshop for Teachers of
Dr. B.M.N. College of Home Science
(Affiliated to S.N.D.T. Women's
University).
Mr. Alok Gude conducted field trips to
Khandala, Panchgani, Mahabaleshwar
and Sangmeshwar for post graduate
students. The honours project work
undertaken by Mr. Alok Gude was
presented by Mr. Valentine Borges of
MSc-II class at two National Seminar/
conferences, one held at Goa and the
other at Bhavnagar.
Papers published:
1. Shinde Rajendra, Sweedle
Cerejo, Rajdeo Singh, 2011. New
Distributional Record of E n d e m i c
Orchid, Habenaria longicorniculata
J. Graham for Thane, Maharashtra
(India). 47-50. Explore – Xavier’s
Research Journal, 2011.
Paper presentation by students:
1. Valentine J Borges, Alok Gude,
Granea D’souza, Royston A Lobo
and U. C. Bapat
‘Flavonoid stability of fruits
commonly consumed in South
Mumbai’
National conference on ‘Basic
Sciences as Foundation of Applied
Sciences and
Technology’
organized by Sir P. P. Institute of
Science, Bhavnagar, Gujarat on
19 - 20th Feb. 2012.
2. Valentine J Borges, Alok Gude,
Granea D’souza, Royston A Lobo
and U. C. Bapat
storage (refrigeration) of Citrus
fruits commonly
consumed in
South Mumbai’.
National Seminar on ‘New Vistas
in Plant Sciences’ organized
by Department of Botany, Goa
University, on 15 - 16th March
2012.
3. Shinde Rajendra 9-11 Feb 2012
Floristic Diversity of Nandur
Madhmeshwar Wetland
Sanctuary, Nasik District, Abstract
T1/P45 at National Conference
on Biodiversity
Assessment,
Conservation and Utilization
organized by M.E.S. Abasaheb
Garware
College, Pune
Dr. Ujwala C. Bapat
Head, Department of Botany.
‘Flavonoid loss during short-term
BSc-IT
The year 2012 brought in a new
light of enthusiasm within the BSc
IT department as they celebrated
their very first Inter-Collegiate Fest
XENITH’12 with fun and galore
under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Jyoti
Singh as the Head of Department.
It not only put forth the fun coated
academic skills of the students but
also brought out the management
capabilities with the assistance of
Prof. Shivaranjani Gudibanda as the
faculty-in-charge. They were backed
by trusted and knowledgeable hands
of the Department Faculty namely:
Prof. Roy Thomas, Prof. Subhash
Kumar and Prof. Lydia Fernandes.
The sponsors like Trinity, Bank of
India, Gigabyte, Honesty Solutions,
Playfactory, Eset, Flipkart, Know-afest, Awesome Design Studio and many
more supported the events.
9th and 10th of January witnessed the
successful execution of “What’s on your
mind” a debate which was judged by
Mr. Floyd Gracious (Lawyer). Prof. Dr.
J. B. Mistry brought out the best exhibit
(Solar Power loom) in the Exhibition
Contest won by L.D.S. College Kalyan.
“Fastest Computer First” proved to
be a hit among students from all
participating colleges including our
own. “Beat the Bug” a debugging event
was judged by Prof. Aktesham Sheikh,
the co-ordinator at A.P. College and
an expert in programming languages.
“Web Designing” was judged by Prof.
Subhash Kumar and Prof. Lydia
Fernandes who are masters in the
field of Web Technology, while “SQL
Master” was judged by Prof. Roy
Thomas who is an expert in Database
Management, “Photo + Theme Movie”
was judged by Prof. Shivaranjani
Gudibanda where creative ability
of clicking pictures as well as its
presentation in the form of movies
was considered as a vital element to
win the competition.
The Festival also was graced by two
eminent experts from the prestigious,
Microsoft. Mr.Abhay Pariekh,
MBA from NM College who is a
Microsoft Student Partner Voice,
presented an enlightening seminar
on Cloud Computing providing the
students with a live demonstration
of its working while Mr. Sreekant
Nandakumar (MSP) currently
pursuing 4th year of engineering
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presented Microsoft’s latest products.
Logical Quiz, Treasure Hunt, Clash of
the ITians, Survival of the Fittest IT
Feud, Cyberthon, Formula One were
some of the other exciting events that
the students of other colleges enjoyed
participating in. While our students
enjoyed and learnt a lot through
the making of Xenith 2012, they are
eagerly awaiting Xenith 2013 !!! Xenith
would not have been possible without
the contribution and support of our
students of B.Sc IT.
The Xenith team was led by Larissa
Pinto, the student-coordinator. She was
supported by efficient Head(s) who
were in charge of the sub-teams namely
Shresth Thakur (Marketing Head),
M a n a l i
Kapadia
(Creative
H e a d ) ,
Supriya Patil
and Aarohi
Aj g a on k ar
(Finance
Heads) and
finally Leon
D’s ou z a
( E v e n t
Head). The students of S.Y. BSc.IT
and F.Y.BSc.IT provided their fullfledged support for the preparation as
well as execution of the event.
Honours Program
Prof. Roy Thomas was the co-ordinator
of the Honours Program. About 20
students of FY and SY IT took part in
the program, in which varied courses
were organized. The best exposure
for students this year was the course
offered by Prof. Rama Vishwanath
from Beloit College, U.S.A., who was
on his sabbatical leave. He guided
SYBSc.IT students on ‘Computer
Architecture’, gave them hands-on
experience.
Prof. Lydia Fernandes offered a one
credit course on Visual Basic to SYBSc.
IT students.
Mr. Aman Chaddha guided FYIT
students on ‘Matlab’ and Ms. Vidhi
Mehta offered a onecredit
course
on
Android
programming to SYBSc.IT students.
TY BSc IT Projects: As part of the
curriculum the final year students
have developed various projects.
Many students developed software
for industrial applications by taking
guidance from the industry people and
our faculty, others developed in-house
projects. The overall co-ordination of
this work was done by Prof. Subhash
Kumar.
Job Placements: Almost 40 students of
the TY BSc IT class of 60, have received
offers from various IT companies
which visited our campus via the
placement cell.
Activities of the faculty
members:
Prof. Roy Thomas and Prof. Lydia
Fernandes attended a one-day
workshop on Computer Graphics and
Quantitative Techniques organized by
University of Mumbai on 30th July
2011
Prof. Subhash Kumar attended the
National Conference on Cloud
computing on Nov 11 and 12, 2011
at Bandodkar college, Thane. He
also attended the SET workshop at
university of Mumbai, from Dec 25,
2011 to 1 Jan, 2012
Prof. Shivaranjani Gudibanda
attended a ICSSR,WRO sponsored
National Level Workshop conducted
by Maniben Nanavati Women’s College
on the 27th and 28th of June 2011
titled “Research Methodology”. She
also attended a UGC sponsored a
National Level Seminar conducted
by Jai Hind College, Department of
Computer Science titled “Information
Communication Technology (ICT)
and its Challenges for the future of
India” on 22nd and 23rd of November
2011.
Industrial Visits:
Pune
On 11th October 2011, the FYBSc. IT
students were taken for an Industrial
Visit by members of the faculty:
Prof. Floyd G. and Prof. Shivaranjani
G. They visited the I2IT Institute.
Prof. Dr. Rabinder Henry, Head of
School of Interdisciplinary Science &
Technology gave a brief introduction
about himself, the college and the
kind of courses and method in which
the courses were pursued there. Our
students not only got an opportunity
to have a glimpse of the laboratory
and its infrastructure but also were
tutored by the students of the institute
working on their Ph.D Projects about
their work which our students could
grasp. This renewed their confidence
in the pursuit of their 3 year course
at St. Xavier’s as the ground work
for future.
After a visit to the famous Balaji
Temple at Pune, the students got
into the preparation mode for their
informal test conducted by Prof.
Floyd Gracious. In this test, their
presentation skills and individual
participation was tested through
Group Discussion Method.
On
the journey back to the college, the
students were taken to the famous
Katraj Dairy to study the inventory
process. They were given an insight
into how this single factory acts as
a mode of employment to all the
villagers in and around Katraj. They
95
saw how the company innovatively
computerized certain aspects of their
work. The industrial visit to Pune was
very fruitful, giving them a glimpse
into the scope of technology. It also
triggered them to develop software
for the needs of the Indian Markets.
Bangalore
The SYBSc.IT students, as part of
their industrial visit, paid a 6 day
visit to Bangalore-Mysore. Profs.
Subhash Kumar and Lydia Fernandes
accompanied them. The industrial visit
started off with a half-day visit to the
famous Visvesvaraya Industrial and
Technological Museum in Bangalore,
which showcased the past, present and
some futuristic inventions in all walks
of science. The company Alligator
Designs Pvt. Ltd was also visited
which gave the students a fair idea
of how solutions in Rugged Products
are designed, developed, tested and
manufactured. Students were taken
around in groups and were explained
the details of the functioning of certain
products used under normal and
extreme environmental conditions. A
short session was also organized at
CDAC Bangalore where the speaker
interacted with the students on the
current trends and applications of
Information Technology in public and
private sectors. Apart from these, the
sightseeing visit to Iskcon temple
Bangalore, Nandi hill, St. Philomena
Church followed by shopping in
Mysore and the visit to the majestic
Palace of Mysore will always be
cherished by the students.
ECC Details: Prof. Shivaranjani
was in-Charge of handling ECC for
Students studying under autonomy.
About 70 students of the Autonomy
Batch as well as T.Y. batch-12 have
participated and successfully secured
first, second and third positions in
several competitions conducted at
K.C. , Sophia, SIES, Royal, Swami
Vivekanand, Mithibai, Elphinstone,
IIT Powai, National, N.M. Colleges
of Mumbai.
Some of the achievements are:
Natasha Rupani of TY secured 3rd
Place in an inter – collegiate chess
tournament conducted at District
Level in Mumbai.
Rita D’souza, Pearl Johnson, Melita
Lobo (3 in nos.) and Supriya Patil
secured the First position in the
debating contest conducted at Sagacity,
Royal College, Elphinstone College.
Melita Lobo secured the third
position in the elocution competition
conducted at Royal College.
Quiz competition conducted at several
colleges too had Xaverities as winners
namely Priyanka Kashyap, Vighnesh
Gaikwad from SYIT.
Prizes for Power point presentations
were bagged by the SYIT’s - Jovita
Andrade, Anjali Barboza, and Arlene
Fernandes at the SIES Tech Fest. FYIT’s
Blossom Coelho and Sneha Krishnan
too gave a tough competition and
secured First position at the SIES
Tech Fest as well as Royal College
Tech Event.
The Cultural side of the IT department
was represented by Sneh Misrty and
Krishnakant Keni as they represented
our college at various Inter-Collegiate
festivals and secured 1st and 2nd
prizes.
and Rahul Bohra student of T.Y.BSc.
IT was one of them. He has also
actively participated in several other
intercollegiate competitions such as
word games, quizzes etc. and secured
1st and 2nd positions in them.
Many students participated in various
other events conducted at several
colleges all over Mumbai .Though they
may not have won coveted positions,
they won our hearts with their true
sporting spirit, in the tradition of true
Xavierites.
Dr.Jyoti Singh
Co-ordinator, B.Sc IT
A website handling all the information
about Campus Festivals in India
namely Know-A- Fest selected 4
students as their brand ambassadors
Chemistry
The year began with a lot of activities.
Hearty congratulations to Fr Roy
Pereira, SJ, who has completed
his PhD. Fr Roy was very warmly
welcomed back in the Chemistry
Department after a long absence for
doctoral studies. Part of his work
involved the fascinating field of
neuroscience. He was appointed Coordinator of International Programmes
in June. Later, in October, he was
appointed as Director of the NSRL.
The Nadkarny-Sacasa Research
Laboratory (NSRL) was renovated
during the summer vacation. The
renovated laboratory was inaugurated
by Dr S. B. Dharap, Chairman of Board
of Studies in Chemistry in Mumbai
University.
The TYBSc results were exceptionally
promising this year. Our topper, Ms
Viola D’Mello, secured the 3rd rank
in Mumbai University. Congratulations
to the successful candidates!
A department magazine, that was
prepared late in the last academic
year to celebrate the International
Year of Chemistry, was released at the
inaugural meeting of the departmental
association, XAC. The magazine, with
an attached DVD, showcased the
departmental activities, in addition to
entertaining and informative articles,
poems and trivia, on Chemistry.
The DVD contains a compilation
Visit to Cadila Pharmaceuticals
of spectacular videos of chemistry
experiments that were put up in the
exhibition and ‘Fun with Chemistry’
shows that we were a part of the IYC
celebrations.
Activities for students:
Guest Lectures:
1. The department organized some
lectures by eminent personalities
for the Chemistry students. Early
in the year there was a talk by Prof
96
Ali Asgar Contractor, Dean ACM,
IIT Bombay, for the undergraduate
students, on “What a Chemist can
do in IIT”.
2. In the second term, there were
lectures by Prof Z. R. Turel, Adjunct
Professor, Mithibai College, and
Dr Jangu Mistry, to name a
few, that were organized for the
undergraduate students, which
aimed to lay the foundation of
scientific communication.
This year, the chemistry department
conducted the honours program on
Marine Science for students of TYBSc
only. A dozen students qualified for
the Honours Certificate in Chemistry.
Activities of Faculty:
Industrial Visits:
1. The SY and TY students were taken
for an industrial visit to Cadilla
Pharmaceuticals, Ahmedabad,
in October 2011. They were
accompanied by Dr. Freddy
Havaldar, Dr. B. D. Bonde and
Dr.(Ms) Abhilasha Jain.
The chemistry department actively
participated in the lecture-workshop
on “Techniques in Animal Tissue
Culture and Gas Chromatography”
organized by the department of Life
Science and Biochemistry and CIF, in
June 2011.
In the second semester, we had
an occasion to be glad and sorry
simultaneously. Dr Z. A. Filmwala
2. The SY and TY students visited
the Sophisticated Analytical
Instrumentation Facility in IIT
Bombay in January. They were
accompanied by Prof (Ms) Surabhi
Potnis, Dr.(Ms) Ashma Agarwal
and Dr.(Ms) Abhilasha Jain
XAC activities:
The departmental association, XAC,
organized various activities that
included a hike, an inter-collegiate
festival in which about 150 students
from various colleges in Mumbai
participated, and a camp at Khandala
in January. These activities surely
enhanced the bonding among
Chemistry students who came from
a wide variety of subject combinations.
Three students made it to the merit
list this year in the Aptitude Test
conducted by the Indian Chemical
Society. One of them, Ms Veena Iyer,
secured second rank.
took over as Principal of Keluskar
College, and resigned from St. Xavier’s
at the end of the year. We wish him
the very best in his new venture.
Dr (Ms) Ashma Agarwal presented
a poster on “Excess molar enthalpies
of ternary mixtures containing
o-toluidine + tetrahydropyran with
pyridine or benzene or toluene
at 308.15 K” at the 6th National
Conference on Thermodynamics of
Chemical and Biological Systems held
in Nov 2012 at M. D. University,
Rohtak (Haryana)
Dr (Ms) Abhilasha Jain completed
PGDBA from Symbiosis, Pune. She has
also published the following research
papers during the year:
1. Photo-fenton
deg rad at ion
of phenol red catalyzed by
inorganic additives: A technique
for wastewater treatment, A.
Jain, D. Vaya, V. K. Sharma and
S. C. Ameta, KINETICS AND
CATALYSIS,Volume 52, Number
1, 4047, DOI: 10.1134/
S0023158411010071. 2011
2. A novel route for waste water
t re at m e nt :
Ph oto c at a ly t i c
degradation of rhodamine B.
Savitri Lodhaa, , 1, , Abhilasha
Jainb, 2, Pinki B. Punjabib,
2,Arabian Journal of Chemistry,
Volume 4, Issue 4, October 2011,
Pages 383-387
3. Synthesis and pharmacological
properties of some novel
pyrazolidine and pyrazole
derivatives. Bharat Parashar,
Abhilasha Jain, Sudhir Bharadwaj
& V. K. Sharma, Medicinal
Chemistry Research, vol 19 (7),
Med Chem Res., DOI 10.1007/
s00044-011-9687-0, 2011.
4. Effect of KCl Addition upon the
Photocatalytic Activity of Zinc
Sulphide, Defect and Diffusion
Forum (Volume 318), Defects and
Diffusion in Semiconductors XIII,
Dipti Vaya, Abhilasha Jain, Savitri
Lodha, V. K. Sharma, Suresh C.
Ameta, 2011.
Surabhi Potnis
Head, Department of Chemistry
Commerce
St. Xavier’s College in its endeavour
to uplift the marginalised in society,
set up the Commerce Section in 1988.
The commerce section thus caters to
the needs of the working members
of society who wish to pursue higher
education. The lectures are held in the
evenings from 5.55 pm till 9.20 pm.
Though challenging for students to
earn and learn, the teaching faculty
of the Commerce Section with their
dedication, hard work and creativity
make the lectures and other activities
so interesting that students are drawn
to attend lectures even after a hard
day’s work. On any given day, the
attendance of students is over 80%.
The Commerce section incorporates
the Jesuit philosophy of holistic
development. The students of the
97
Commerce Section participate in
various Inter-Collegiate Competitions
and often win prizes, competing with
students of day colleges.
From 2010, the Commerce Section
has been organizing a State Level
Inter-Collegiate Competition, where
students from various night colleges
across Maharashtra get a platform
to speak and present their views on
various relevant topics.
The activities conducted by Commerce
Section during the academic year
2011-2012 are as follows:
• Classes for the TY students began
on 1st June 2011 onward, though
the academic year began on 13th
June 2011. This was with a view
to preparing our students as
thoroughly as possible for the
University Examinations.
• TheinaugurationoftheAcademic
year for all classes was on 23rd
June 2011 during which we invoked
God’s blessings which had been
poured out on us in the past and
we hope would continue to be
poured out on us.
• TohelpnewlyadmittedFYstofeel
at home there was an Orientation
Programme from 23-25 June 2011.
• Dr. Vini Sebastian conducted a
Guest Lecture for SY & TY students
on “Study Habits” on 20th June
2011.
• AtwodaySeminarforTYstudents
was held in Khandala on 9th &
10th July 2011. The students not
only learnt about how to face the
challenges of the world after their
Final Year, but also relaxed in the
green surroundings of the hills.
• The SYBCom students visited the
Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)
on 22nd July 2011 to get a first
hand view about the functioning
of the Stock market and shares,
debentures and trading.
• A three week Information
Technology workshop was
conducted in the month of July,
2011 to make students computer
literate.
• A month-long English speaking
camp was conducted in August
2011, to help students develop
their capacity to speak, read and
write well.
• The feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola
the founder of the Society of Jesus
was celebrated with a cultural
programme on 31st July 2011.
• A State Level Inter-Collegiate
Competition was organized on 5th
Sept, 2011 on the theme ‘A Need for
a Value Based Education’ through
Power Point Presentations. Various
Night Colleges across Maharashtra
participated. The results of this
competition were:
1st Prize : St. Vincent College, Pune.
2012
Pass percentage
88.04%
Total Appeared
180
First Class with Distinctions
16
First class
94
Second Class
52
2nd Prize : Commerce Section, St.
Xavier’s College, Mumbai.
1st Rank : 83.29%
Dongare Rajiv Bajirav,
Shigwan Jignesh Mohan
3rd Prize : Night College of Arts
& Commerce, Ichalkaranji, Dist:
Kolhapur.
2nd Rank : 82.14%
Chauhan Nathu Rameshkumar
• Prof Steve Archer, RKT College,
Ulhasnagar conducted a guest
Lecture for TY students on the
subject MHRM on 22nd Nov 2011.
• The feast of St. Francis Xavier
one of the first companions of
St. Ignatius and the Patron of
our College, was celebrated as
an Annual Day on 3rd December
2011, with a cultural programme
on the theme “Unity in Diversity”.
• Mr. Biju Thomas, a Management
Consultant,
conducted
a
guest lecture on “Personality
Development” on 7th Dec 2011.
• Christmas was celebrated with
singing and a dance competition
on 23rd Dec. 2011.
• Four Soft-Skill Development
Workshops were conducted in
January 2012 to develop the soft
skills of the students.
• Remedial Coaching classes were
conducted in the months of January
and February 2012.
• Students’ Union Council Day was
celebrated by organizing a Talent
Day Competition on 21st January
2012,
• As a part of the Interuniversity
Collaboration programme, Prof.
Arvind Dhond visited Boston
College, USA from 1st to 9th
June 2012.
Achievements of the Commerce
Section in the Academic Year 2011-12
TYBcom University Results, March
98
3rd Rank : 80.14%
Mahadik Santosh Balaram
• This year’s biggest achievement of
the Commerce Section: Qureshi
Mohammed Parvez, at the age of
50 passed TYBCom along with his
son and daughter.
Inter-Collegiate Competition
at Rizvi College
1st Prize : Rangoli
Archana Vadicherla (TY ‘B’)
Monika Patekar (SY ‘A’)
Nail Painting
Heena Ghogare (SY ‘B’)
Yogita Dewalekar (SY ‘A’)
Shoe Painting
Prashant Darji (TY ‘B’)
2nd Prize : Jam Marketing
Arjun Balmiki (TY ‘A’)
3rd Prize : Debate in English
Asma Shaikh (TY ‘B’)
Alisha Lazarus (TY ‘A’)
Consolation :
Shorty-Story (Marathi)
Dipak Tayade (FY ‘B’)
Inter-Collegiate Competition
at Sydenham College
1st Prize : Carrom Single
Rakesh Baria (FY ‘A’)
Carrom Single
Asma Shaikh (TY ‘B’)
3rd Prize : Group Dance
Tiger Group
Best College Leader
Asma Shaikh (TY ‘B’)
Running 200 M (Boys)
3rd Prize
Uday Poojari
High Jump
3rd Prize
Umesh Poojari
St. Xavier’s College Sports
Day
Running 400 M (Boys)
2nd Prize
Prasad Naik
Shot Put
3rd Prize
Praveen Poojari
Javelin Throw (Boys)
1st Prize
Uday Poojari
Running 400 M (Girls)
3rd Prize
Heena Ghogare
Discuss Throw
3rd Prize
Pravin Poojari
Javelin Throw (Girls)
1st Prize
Asma Shaikh
Running 800 M (Boys)
2nd Prize
Prasad Naik
Javelin Throw (Girls)
2nd Prize
Kavita Poojari
Running 1500 M (Boys)
1st Prize
Prasad Naik
Javelin Throw (Girls)
3rd Prize
Heena Ghogare
Running 1500 M (Boys)
3rd Prize
Uday Poojari
Running 100 M (Boys)
3rd Prize
Prasad Naik
Long Jump
2nd Prize
Uday Poojari
The Commerce Section which
began in 1988 completed 24 years
of service by creating many success
stories of working students, offering
quality higher education and all
round development to its students.
It is a great pleasure and privilege to
announce that the academic year 20122013 will be celebrated as the Silver
Jubilee of the Commerce Section and
many Academic and Extra-curricular
activities have been planned.
Inter-Collegiate Competition
at Siddharth College
1st Prize : Carrom Single
Rakesh Baria (FY ‘A’)
Fr.Errol Fernandes sj
Vice-Principal, Commerce Section
Economics
At the outset, the Department of
Economics is proud to mention the
Award of the Ph.D. degree by the
University of Mumbai to Prof. Aditi
Sawant . The title of the doctoral thesis
is “Crowding-in and Crowding out
Impact of Foreign Direct Investment
on India’s Economy”
Contemporary economics seems to
be working itself into a major crisis
of relevance. Economists have sought
refuge in cumbersome, terse economic
models and have thrashed simple
models. The department reinstated
simplicity in analysis and relevance
in economic thought. Therefore the
running theme of the department’s
publications-Arthniti and the Seminar
Brochure-and all the activities was
“Unraveling The Production –
Consumption Conundrum” This
gave the students the opportunity to
engage in solving problems that reflect
real-world situations. The Khandala
Seminar Papers and the Arthniti both
reflect the students’ free thinking,
yet there was a concerted attempt
to systematically cultivate excellence
in thought.
The students did the department proud
yet again with Romit Mehta and
Arpita Nanavati securing the First
and Second rank respectively in the
University in the subject of Economics
at the TYBA examination and 85% of
the students securing a First class at
the same examination. The Economics
Circle under the leadership of Raahil
Rai organized an impressive set of
activities. Ms. Aditi Misra an alumnus
of the department and currently
studying at Warwick UK conducted
a Bargaining Game, a lecture series
on Experimental Economics and
a workshop on Game Theory. The
circle organized talks by two deputy
Governors of the RBI, Dr. Subir
Gokarn and Dr. K.C. Chakrabarthy.
They also invited Jamal Bandhopadya
and Swati Apte Kshirsagar to talk
on Banking and Financial Inclusion
The Eco-Fest-Econundrum- in its
second year steered by Akshay Kohli
was a roaring success with its own
commendable series of activities
proving “Bigger is Better” contrary
99
to Schumacher’s “Small is Beautiful”
approach. This Fest can boast of
1. A panel discussion on ‘Reevaluating NREGA’ The panelists
were:Prof. R Nagraj –IGIDR and
member of Standing Committee
CSO, Mr. Niranjan RajadhyakshaExecutive editor and Columnist
at HT Media Ltd.’s Mint, Prof. A.
Nadkarni-Professor of Planning
and Development, Planning
Commission Unit, Dept. of
Economics, University of Mumbai,
Pranab Mukherjee- Independent
media analyst and theatre director.
Prof. Khaliq Parkar, lecturer of
Political Science of St. Xavier’s
College was the Moderator
2. Metropolice – A one man
production about Globalisation
by Pranab Mukherjee
3. The Lalit Doshi Memorial Lecture
by Mr. Alok Kshirsagar, Director
and Senior Partner McKinsey and
Company
4. The Inter- Collegiate Lalit Doshi
Memorial debate and
5. A talk by Mr.Uday Shankar – CEO
STAR India.
The crowning Glory was of course
the admission offers from Oxford,
Cambridge, Yale SOAS, Warwick,
Sussex and LSE. I must specially
mention our visually challenged
students Prashant and Natasha who
scored good first classes. Prashant
has earned himself a good job and
Natasha Shah (she scored the highest
marks in Eco-Maths and Stats in the
college) is currently studying at SOAS
and is performing very well.
bagged prestigious positions with
Citi Bank, Bain Capability Centre,
McKenzie’s, Google, CNBC, Aon
Hewitt to name a few. The salary
packages have been mind-boggling.
It left us wondering if there was a
global economic crisis at all!!
The students who chose to equip
themselves with work experience also
Mrs. Hermione Salazar
Head, Department of Economics
The Importance of Being Earnest,
Henry IV (Tom Stoppard’s revision
of Pirandello’s play) and Americano,
an original noir play written by our
ex-student Arvind Sivakumaran.
These plays were directed by our
students, with invaluable guidance
We are proud of the excellent
performance of all our third year
students at the B.A.examination,
especially Anurag Tagat and Paroma
Bhattacharya who were ranked second
and third. Our graduates have ventured
into diverse courses and fields both
in India and abroad, not only the
traditional M.A. and B.Ed. Courses but
also Journalism, Film Studies, Media,
Gender Studies, Art and Aesthetics,
Fashion Designing, International
Development, and Business. We hope
their experience of studying English
at St. Xavier’s helps them in these
endeavours.
English
This year the activities of the
department were clustered in the ten
days of the Ithaka festival held in
November. We started with a scholarly
address by Dr. Michal Markowski,
professor of Polish Studies at the
University of Illinois in Chicago
and Jagiellonian University, Poland.
His enlightening talk on the poetry
of Czeslaw Milosz was part of the
world-wide centenary celebrations
of the Nobel laureate. Next we had
a “Meet the Author” event, where
Australian writer Anna Funder gave
us a vivid insight into her writing
as well as aspects of German history
which form the background of her
books Stasiland and All That I Am.
This was followed by a stimulating
panel discussion on graphic novels.
The academic gravitas of these talks
was lightened by a wide range of
other events which included stand-up
comedy, rehearsed play readings, a
creative writing competition, a literary
treasure hunt, and an exhibition
depicting the ghosts of Ithakas past.
And then there were the eagerlyawaited performances: Oscar Wilde’s
from Roo Jhala and Liam McLaughlin
of Tambourine Theatre, and our exstudent Sheena Khalid. Finally, we
released the Ithaka journal, “Exploring
the Darkness”. All this was possible
only because of the enthusiastic and
dedicated efforts of a huge team of
students.
‘Conversation with Globalization’ our
online collaboration with Stuttgart
University, Germany ,is now in its
fourth year and with the added
participation of St.Louis University
USA. We hosted the Project Week
in March and our students visited
Stuttgart in May. We are grateful to
Prof. Khaliq Parkar for his invaluable
assistance.
Dr. Shefali Balsari-Shah
Head, Department of English
Forensic Science
In the academic year 2011-12, the
Diploma in Forensic Science course
had 32 fresh students enrolled for
the program. The second batch of the
newly introduced Certificate Program
in Criminal Law began in Jan 2012
and had 15 students enrolled, many
of whom are professionals from the
field of Law and Education.
In this academic year, two students
from the program worked with the
eminent police officer, Mr. Brijesh
Singh, DCP, Traffic on a project that
looked into fresh drafting of rules
for Hoardings to be implemented
as part of the Bombay Police Act.
One student of the program was
also accepted by the Kalina Forensic
Science lab for internship for a period
of two weeks. Through efforts made by
the students themselves, many police
stations across Mumbai have also
100
accepted our students for internships,
which are required to be done as part
of the course work. Many of these
students have also been accepted in
Masters Programs in Forensic Science,
at colleges both in India and UK.
Students attended two guest lectures by
Sejal Shah on Forensic DNA and Body
Fluid Analysis and Dr. Raju Shinde
on Forensic Botany respectively. They
were also exposed to illuminating
lectures by the in-house faculty.
They also benefited from the lectures
conducted by the in-house faculty. Dr.
Smita Krishnan and Dr. Pushpa Sinkar
from the Department of Zoology and
Forensic Science delivered lectures on
Forensic Entomology and Neurology
respectively.
In June 2011, Ms. C. Samyukta
attended a two day workshop on
Research Methodology conducted by
the Research Cell of Maniben Nanavati
Women’s College, Mumbai.
In November 2011, Ms. Riva Pocha,
with the help of ex-students of the
programme, Ms. Sejal Shah and Ms.
Ananya Agarwal, conducted a Forensic
Workshop at Palindrome, the annual
departmental festival organized by the
M.Sc students of the Department of
Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College. The
workshop was attended by students
from all over Mumbai and the
session was tremendously successful
in spreading awareness about forensics.
It gave the participants an opportunity
to get a hands-on feel of various
analyses done in a forensic lab. Ms.
Riva Pocha also represented St. Xavier’s
College at a meeting between Forensic
Science Educators in India and the Jt.
Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs
to discuss finalization of the XII five
year plan for Forensic Science in
India. The objective of this meeting
was to increase job opportunities for
forensic graduates in the Government
Labs, while simultaneously expanding
their existing skill set.
In Jan 2012, a guest lecture was
conducted by Advocate Shrikant Bhat,
Senior Advocate, on the topic of ‘The
Law of Arrest, Investigation and Bail’
for the students of the Certificate
Program in Criminal Law. The lecture
was well attended by students of the
Diploma in Forensic Science course
as well.
In Feb 2012, our students participated
in a two day National Seminar on
Firearm and Toolmark Investigation
conducted by Gujarat Forensic Science
University. During this seminar, they
interacted with forensic specialists
from across the world and had the
opportunity to visit the Gujarat
Forensic Science lab to get an overview
of all the departments functioning
therein. Ms. C.Samyukta also attended
the National level conference on
Emerging Trends in Forensic Science,
conducted by the Institute of Forensic
Science, Mumbai.
In March 2012, Ms. Riva Pocha and
Ms. C. Samyukta as well as five students
from the program attended a three
day national level conference on
criminology, conducted by TISS and
Indian Society of Criminology. They
were able to interact with renowned
police officers and criminologists of
repute. They learnt about the latest
practices in criminology and how these
are affecting the Indian justice system.
Our students attending this conference
have also been offered the opportunity
to be part of a survey in Indian jails
to study the misuse of bail.
Dr.Pushpa Sinkar.
Co-ordinator
French
The year began with a cultural
programme of skits, songs and an
exhibition on
philosophers who influenced the
French revolution organised for
the
14th
July
celebration,
commemorating the storming of the
Bastille This programme , organised
by the students of the SYJC Arts and
Science was attended
also by a visiting group of French
students .
A poster making competition was also
held for the occasion.
In the month of July-August 2011
the TYBA students participated in a
workshop on ‘Picasso and Cubism’,
conducted by Dr. Vidya Vencatesan,
Head of Department of French,
Mumbai University.
In the month of January a week
long inter - collegiate French Festival
‘Frénésie’ was organised by the
students of the Department. A Quiz on
France was organised in collaboration
with Alliance Française, the quiz
master being the Education officer
(Directeur pédagogique) of Alliance
Française, Mr. David Cordina. The
event was a grand success. The Festival
also had French Cuisine competition
and a screening of a French film. The
grand finale was short skits with song
and dance presented by both the Junior
as well as Senior college students.
The French News letter ‘A la française’
was released in the month of February.
It gave a platform to the students to
express their creativity in French.
Samrudhi Badhe of SYBA was
selected to participate in an Exchange
programme. She spent one month in
France. Sumitra Badrinathan of FYBA
was selected to participate in the
‘Quatorze Juillet’ programme in Paris.
About 15 students of the Junior and
the senior college participated
101
in a programme of quiz and a festival
of short films on the 23rd of
March. This programme organized by
the French Consulate in
collaboration with The Ecole Francaise
Internationale de Bombay was a
part of the celebration of the
Francophony Week (17th to 25th
March).
Prof. Anjali Lokur and Prof. Alpana
Palkhiwale attended the workshop
organized by Ruia College in
collaboration with the French
Consulate on the Theme ‘Innovative
Techniques and teaching of French’
Prof Anjali Lokur was appointed on
the BOS of
Maharashtra State Board of Secondary
and Higher secondary Education.
Prof. Alpana Palkhiwale
(Professor in charge)
Geology
This academic year was a mixed
package - consisting high and low
moments. The graduating batch
received laurels with a 100% success at
the University exams and the rankers,
Ms. Debarati Das along with Mr. Vivan
Sorab made us proud.
As a part of our efforts towards
offering a practical hands-on learning
experience, the second year students
were trained over a period of three
days in Flood basalt mapping near
Lonavala and later taken on a visit
to the Pashan quarries for mineral
collection. The third year students
underwent exhaustive geological
mapping exercises in and around the
coastal town of Malvan for a period
of 12 days. The freshmen were taken
for a couple of weekend field-visits
to areas around the city, with the
aim of familiarising them with the
local geology.
The Mineralogy and Petrology
laboratory of the department was
the privileged recipient of 7 excellent
petrological microscopes through
special grants sanctioned to the college
by the University Grants Commission.
Apart from the undergraduate and post
graduate teaching, Faculty members
of the department have continued
their participation in research and
consultancy activities. Dr. Hilal
Farooq participated in an international
conference “Arsenic in Groundwater
of Southern Asia” in Hanoi, Vietnam.
He was awarded a fellowship of 1600
US$ by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Denmark under International
Development Cooperation (DANIDA)
for attending an international
conference. He was also awarded
the “Young Scientist Project” with a
budget allocation of 11.16 lakhs for
working on the problem of arsenic
contamination in groundwater of West
Bengal by the Department of Science
and Technology, Government of India.
Mr. Bobby George attended a refresher
course in Environmental Sciences
conducted by the Academic Staff
College, Kerala University. He also
offers consultancy in the arena of
rock characterisation and engineering
geology. Dr. Pravin Henriques was
invited to present a paper at the Third
National Seminar-cum-Workshop
in “Gemmology” organized by the
Department of Geology of Motilal
Vigyan Mahavidyalaya, Bhopal (M.P)
under the aegis of: South Asian
Association of Economic Geologist
(SAAEG) and Indian Science Congress
Association Bhopal Chapter. He also
continues to co-ordinate the selffinancing diploma in Gemmology
as well as offers gem and jewellery
identification and evaluation services.
Dr. Hrishikesh Samant was appointed
as a member on the National Task
Force on Geospatial Education by
the MHRD, Government of India.
He was invited to coordinate the
Exchange Forum: Evolving IndustryInstitution Network for Capacity
Building., Geospatial World Forum
2012, Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
where he also presented a paper.
He delivered the Late Sitaram Ghate
Memorial Lecture - "Mitigating WarsEnsuring Military Parity through
Remote Surveillance", in Ramnarain
Ruia College, Mumbai. The World
Wide Fund for Nature, India invited
Dr. Samant to speak on 'Rain
Water Harvesting and Geology’, in
the Teacher-Training Workshop in
Mumbai. He was also a resourse person
for a ISTE-approved weeklong STTP at
Rizvi College of Engineering, where he
conducted a half-day session on 'The
role of Geology in Civil Engineering.
At the end of the academic year,
the department bid adieu to Dr.
Hilal Farooq, who has moved on to
pursue his academic career at IIT
Bhubaneshwar.
The untimely demise of our Head
Dr. Ms. Bakhtawar Sethna on the
3rd of March, 2012 was a tragic
note that struck the department of
geology. The memorial service held
on the 14th of March, 2012 was
attended by distinguished alumni of
the department who came to pay
their respects to the memory of Dr.
Mrs. Sethna.
Dr. Hrishikesh Samant
Head, Department Of Geology.
History
The Academic Year of 2011-2012
started off on a positive note with
the declaration of the University exam
results of 2011. Tanvi Gupte and
Tanya Noronha, from the Class of
2011 stood 2nd & 3rd respectively
in the University examinations in
the subject of History in April 2011
This achievement is to be commended
as around 8000 students appear for
History at the University. 20 out of
the 22 students of the 2011 Xavier’s
batch secured a First Class in the
University exams.
As part of our Museology paper,
the TYBA history class visited many
museums through the course of this
year. The first museum visited was
the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary
Museum on 20th July, 2011. On 2nd
August, 2011, the class was introduced
to the outreach programmes of the
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu
Sangralaya (CSMVS) through a special
session with the educational officer.
Another added advantage of this
102
museum trip was that the students
got to see the temporary exhibition
on George Gilbert Scott that was put
up in the museum at that time.
On 9th August, 2011, in
commemoration of the bombing of
Hiroshima, and more specifically
Nagasaki 66 years earlier, the TYBA
History Class organized the filming
of the documentary, ‘War and Peace,’
followed by a talk by the creator of
the film itself, Anand Patwardhan. The
Department of History observed the
white ribbon day with the message
of peace.
“Walking through time” an ongoing
programme of the Department of
History this year focuses on the
training of students to be guides to
the history and heritage of South
Mumbai. The programme includes
lectures on the History of Mumbai
as well as practical sessions on how
to conduct the “Walks”. Beginning
on 17th August, the first talk in the
series by Dr. Mariam Dossal historian
and former Head of the University
Department of History urged students
to research unknown aspects of the
History of Bombay. On 30th August,
Alisha Sadikot, a former student of
St Xavier’s History Department gave
a talk on the concept and challenges
of Heritage Walks.
The last museum trip for the first
semester was the visit to the Bhau
Daji Lad Museum in Byculla on
13th September, 2011. October 11th
was a busy day. The day started
off with an informative lecture by
heritage architect Vikas Dilaware on
the Architectural History of Bombay,
followed by a Heritage Walk conducted
by Alisha Sadikot.
On 12th November 2011, 5 students
from the History Department took a
few visiting students from Belgium
as well as some students from the
Junior College of St. Xavier’s College
for a Heritage Walk, after which,
the Department proudly welcomed
Dr. Dominic Eggel, of the Graduate
Institute of International Development
Studies Geneva who delivered a lecture
on the “Idea of Europe” for students
of the Departments of History and
Political Science at St. Xavier’s College.
Mr. Rajan Jayakar, a prominent lawyer
and member of the Bombay Local
History Society invited the students
to fascinating tour of the High
Court from an insider’s perspective
on 19th November, 2011. It built up
the appreciation for the architecture
and interesting history of the grand
building and prominent institution
of the city.
On 25th November, 2011,The British
Council, Mumbai and the Department
of History, St Xavier’s College were
privileged to welcome Dr. Tristram
Hunt, Member of Parliament of U.K
& Senior lecturer in Modern British
History at Queen Mary, University of
London. His topic was “Marx, Engels
and Colonialism”, and the talk was
welcomed by not only the Department
of History, but also the Departments
of Economics, Sociology and Political
Science as well as students from
Sophia College and Jai Hind College.
One of the highlights of the academic
year was the History exhibition
Deśacarika presented by the SYBA
history class on 30th November,
2011 in the transformed College
Hall. Every student of the SYBA class
participated in making models, charts,
posters, audio-visual presentations
and confident well-researched oral
presentations at their stalls on various
facets of the Ancient India syllabus.
A quiz competition and poster
making competition for students of
other colleges were added features.
Congratulations to the core team and
Prof. Avkash who guided them on
the success of the event. ! The TYBA
class too participated in this exhibition
with a model of a fort and aspects of
Maratha history.
A student of the FYBA history class
attended a Seminar on Thomas
Stephens at Vasai and Jigdel Palchen
and Anurag Tripathi presented a
paper at a student Seminar on NorthEast India held by the Jhunjhunwala
College, Ghatkopar in December 2011.
As part of the “Walking through time”
series of lectures, Sharada Dwivedi,
popular author of around eleven books
on Mumbai, was invited to give the
students a talk on the traditions of
oral history & its importance in the
research of the History of Mumbai
on 8th December, 2011. We place
our tribute to Sharada Dwivedi here
as she passed away two months later.
On 13th December, 2011, the
TY class went on an educational
trip to the Elephanta (Gharapuri)
Caves. Almost every student made
a small presentation on the history,
architecture, mythology and the
sculptural panels at this world
heritage site. Several students of the
103
Department of History attended the
48th Heras Memorial Lectures on 14th
December, 2011 in the College Hall.
The distinguished speaker was Dr.
Jim Masselos, an honorary Reader at
the University of Sydney, who gave
a talk on the ‘City and Modernity
– Bombay and its changes in the
19th Century.’ This was followed by
the distribution of certificates for
the Research Methodology Workshop
conducted by the Heras Institute
earlier. Megan Ennis a TYBA History
student was awarded a merit certificate
for presenting the second best project
of the workshop.
The Mumbai book release and lectures
on the 2012 publication, Christian
themes in Indian Art by Anand
Amaladass s.j and Gudrun Löwner
on January 17, 2012 was organised
along with the Heras Institute of
Indian History and Culture.
Dr. Fleur D’Souza co-ordinated
a student-seminar on the theme
“Culture, Religion and Society in
Medieval India” at St. Mary’s villa
Khandala.24 papers on the theme were
presented. The experience made for
a fitting farewell to the TY students
academic life at St. Xavier’s.
Staff News: Dr. Fleur D’Souza
• September 25, 2011: Article in
the Examiner “A Future for our
Past: Archdiocesan History and
the Heritage Museum”
• Article published in the Silver
Jubilee Souvenir of Our Lady of
Mercy Church, Pokhran Thane.
• October 6-9 2011: Attended the
Triennial Conference of the Church
History Association of India in
Hyderabad. Paper presented “The
Jesuits and Cultural studies in
the Mumbai region: the Talasari
mission and Warli culture.”
• December 7, 2011: A speaker at
a Panel discussion at “Encounters”
at the Kamala Raheja Vidhyanidhi
Institute of Architecture, Juhu, Dr.
D’Souza spoke on “The Church
heritage museum: a dimension of
her history.”
• January 4, 2012: Talk on the
history of Mumbai to management
students from the University of
California, Riverside at Shah &
Anchor Kutchhi Engineering
College.
• May 14, 2012: Invited to deliver
the Maritime History Society
‘s Anniversary Commemorative
Lecture at the Capt. MN Mulla
Auditorium, Navy Nagar, Colaba.
Theme: Thana’s Maritime Past
• Publication of an essay in
Andrew Morris (ed.), Catholic
Education, Universal Principles,
Locally applied. Cambridge
Scholars Publishing, Newcastle
upon Tyne, 2012. Name of essay,
“The Archdiocese of Mumbai and
Higher Education.”
Mr. Avkash Jadhav:
• June2-4,2011:Conducteda3-day
training programme for the 80th
Orientation Course, Academic
Staff College at Rani Durgavati
University, Jabalpur, Madhya
Pradesh, on ‘Art of Listening Skills,
Teachers Outside Classroom, Art
of Body Language and Public
Speaking Skills’.
• June-November, 2011: Completed
6-month Orientation programme
organised by the Department of
History, University of Mumbai for
Ph.D students.
an award by ‘ManavSevaSanstha’
(NGO) for significant contribution
to community and humanity.
• October, 2011: Appointed on the
Modern Book Selection Committee
and Mumbai Research Centre, at
The Asiatic Society of Mumbai for
2012-2013.
• December 13, 2011: Presented a
paper and was part of a panel
discussion at the National Seminar
on Human Rights Education at
Sophia College, Mumbai.
• October 31 –November 2, 2011:
Invited to be part of interview
panel on Government of India’s
Staff Selection Commission (SSC)
(Western region).
• Invitedasahistoricalsubjectexpert
by the Censor Board of India.
• November 19, 2011: Invited
as a speaker at Cricket Club
of India, Mumbai to speak on
‘Empowerment of Women in India.’
• December 9, 2011: Invited to
present a paper at One Day State
Level Seminar on Human Rights,
on ‘The Application of Human
Rights in India,’ at Guru Nanak
College, Mumbai.
• Invitedtodeliveralectureon‘The
Role and Contribution of Women
in the Indian Freedom Struggle,’
at University Convocation Hall,
Fort, by Forum of Empowerment
of Women.
• December11,2011:Felicitatedwith
• January 4-5, 2012: Presented a
paper on the ‘Relevance and
Application of Gandhi’s Philosophy
of Sarvodaya in the 21st Century,’ at
an international seminar organized
by Delhi School of Professional
Studies and Research, New Delhi
and also received the ‘Best Research
Paper Award.
• January 8 2012: Felicitated by
National Human Rights Centre
and received a gold medal for
the promotion and awareness of
Human Rights.
• March 9 2012: Was nominated as
a Corporator (Councillor) in the
Municipal Corporation of Greater
Mumbai MCG
Dr. Fleur D’Souza
Head, Department of History.
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Library Report
The Library opened its doors after
a thorough spring cleaning. Library
membership for teachers and all library
services started from the first day of
the academic year.
Working Hours
Library was kept open for extended
hours from 9.00a.m. - 9p.m. with the
cooperation of the Commerce Library
attendants.
Acquisitions
Number of
Books purchased
:
1151
Number of Books
received as Gift
:
446
Number of Journals
subscribed
:
(Indian 67, Foreign 19)
86
Number of
Gift Journals
Number of
Magazines Subscribed
:
:
25
7
New Journal subscriptions
started from 2011-2012
1. Bulletin of Indian Association
of Physics Teachers.
Gift Books: The Library receives a
lot of gift books from past students
and well-wishers. Major donors this
year were The Chandrakant Gupta
Foundation, through Mr. Chuck
Gupta, USA. American Center Library
announced a major weeding out and
the Librarian with Ms. Sonali visited
to select books. Ms. Ranjana Hirani
presented some good titles in media
studies. Through the Central Hindi
Directorate we received 169 good and
latest Hindi books.
Library Infrastructure
A rich collection of Literature, History,
biographies, Fine and performing arts
including Cinema is housed on the
mezzanine of the lending library. It was
monitored remotely from the ground
floor. In October 2011, a new service
counter was started on the Lending
Library Mezzanine. A staff terminal
and an OPAC terminal were installed.
This has led to increase in the number
of students using the collection on
the mezzanine. An attendant sits at
this terminal to help the users and
also carries out bar-coding of books.
In an open-access library like ours,
proper shelving is very essential. Bookends are required to keep the books
standing upright and support them.
300 metal book-ends were acquired
in March 2012. These have been used
on a priority basis in the Honours
Room and at the Reserve Counters.
The old book-ends are used in the
Lending Library.
The Honours Room saw some changes,
the old newspapers room was cleared
to be re-designed as an air-conditioned
Rare Books Room, the Wadia and
Polson Collection books were merged
and re-arranged and the cubicle was
cleared of extra shelves.
Cupboards for library stationery
were shifted out from Cubicle no.
19 in the Honours Room to the area
outside Library back doors. Our
“Stationery Cubicle” and Wadia and
Polson Cubicle were requisitioned by
the Library Committee for a different
and better use in near future.
The electrical wiring in the Lending
Library was redone, complete with
plastic casing. The old wiring was
discarded completely. Now we have
a new state of the art switches, and
switchboards located in convenient
locations.
The library LAN (Local area network)
was also reconfigured. The main
network board in the Reference Library
was upgraded to a 24 port switch rack;
the electrical and computer network
wires were segregated and put in
plastic casing. A Wi-fi connectivity
is installed in the Reference Library.
For
Librar y
security,
an
electromagnetic detection gate and
magnetic tape system was purchased
from 3M Electromagnetic Systems, the
leading vendors in India. The detection
gate was installed in June 2012. The
RFID system will be fully functional
105
by October 2012.
Library Automation and Software
SLIM
Bar-coding of Books in the Lending
Library Mezzanine was started this
year after the staff terminal was made
available.
The total no. of records in the SLIM
database exceeds 87,254 copies (70339
titles), including the Heras Institute
Library books. There are 5425 bound
volumes of journals, 260 CDs and
86 DVDs. Accessioning of bound
volumes of Journals continues. 114
volumes were accessioned this year.
HERAS Library books were added
to the College Library database from
this year. One data entry terminal
was extended to the Heras Library
and the data entry is carried out by
Mr. Shannon Mendonsa, the Heras
Librarian. Till June 2012 Heras library
books in the database number 3166
titles (3664 copies.) Our Web-OPAC
now shows books in the College
Library, The Blatter Herbarium and
The Heras Institute Library.
SLIM Circulation module for issuereturn of books was started for all FY
students with their Unique Identity
Card numbers from the beginning
of the academic year. It had to be
paused from October 2011, because of
constant server errors. After through
networking, an upgraded server is
expected soon, so that we can restart
on-line circulation.
LIBRARY STATISTICS
Library Membership
Arts
Sr. College
Junior College
424
71
Science
Sr. College
Junior College
311
24
M.A
Ph.D. (Sc.)
Ph.D. (Arts)
Paperback
12
02
01
264
Self Financing Courses:
BMS
52
BMM
55
Bask (IT)
85
Forensic Science
05
Masc
28
M.Sc. (Biotech)
53
M.Sc. (I.B.E.)
9
Staff
112
Visitors
18
Total
1526
users were issued Library cards for
Borrowing.
1123
Weeding out of old books was
continued in co-ordination with Dr.
Smitha Krishnan, the Convener of
Library Committee, and the books
were given away to students at the
beginning of academic year in July
2011. There was a tremendous response
for this activity in the College Hall.
2000 tattered and unwanted nonaccessioned books were given away in
2 days. This overwhelming response
dazed us. In the summer vacation,
April-May 2012 the weeding out
work continued. List of Gramophone
records, List of non-accessioned books
in foreign languages in Honors Room
cubicles were prepared with help of
students volunteers. Old maps not in
use were taken away by Departments
of Ancient Indian History and History.
9901
Staff Activities/
Achievements
Inter Library Loan Letters
issued:Total No of Books
referred in the Library
21295
No of Books issued
from Lending Library
10255
No of Books issued
from Reference Library
No of Books referred
in the Honors Library
Total No of CD/DVDs issued
from Multimedia Library
31
Total No of CDs issued
from Lending Library
Weeding Out
25
Library Binding
Binding of books is a routine and
vital job in the library for preservation
of books and journals. The task of
binding journals includes collecting
annual issues, indexes if any. This
year’s binding statistics was 286 books
and 111 bound volumes of journals.
Library Committee: The Library
Committee was headed by Dr. Smita
Krishnan. The Committee suggested
some major changes to give the
Reference Library a new face.
The Assistant Librarian, Library
Assistant and clerical staff attended
a one-day workshop in Computer skills
at the College Knowledge Centre in
November 2012.
The Library Attendants participated
in inter-collegiate sports at Nagindas
Khandwala College and Shri M.D.Shah
Mahila College, Malad in December
2011 in Volley Ball /Cricket / Kabbadi/
Shotput/ Volley Ball. They enjoyed a
staff picnic to a resort in Bhayender.
Ms. Medha Taskar attended a refresher
course in Library and Information
Science at Goa University from 5th
March 2012 to 26th March 2012.
Ms. Medha Taskar’s Marathi
translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s
first novel Boutakuranir Haat
was published by Mehta Publishing
House, Pune in November 2011.
Shri Adinath Raut, our Library
attendant, secured a First class in
B.Lib.Sc. Examination held in May
2012 from Yashwantrao Chavan
Maharashtra Open University.
Library Orientation, Library Tours,
Teaching, Honours Programme
Ms. Sonali Paradkar continued
teaching a course in Work experience
in Library for FYBA students with
Learning Disability. She conducted
lectures and practicals; set papers and
evaluated the same. 9 students were
enrolled for this course.
Ms. Sonali Paradkar gave Lectures to
T.Y.B.A. History Students on Library
automation and Library science as
a profession. She also conducted a
Library tour for the newly-appointed
faculty in June 2011.
The Honours Programme in
Information Literacy was in its 4th
year. Nine students joined. This year’s
project was annotated bibliography of
print Reference sources in St. Xavier’s
College Library and select on-line
sources. The Librarian Ms. Medha
Taskar co-ordinated and conducted
the course.
Department of Geology, Botany and
Life Science invited us for a library
orientation lecture. The Librarian Ms.
Medha Taskar delivered the lectures.
This was followed by Library tours for
the students conducted by Ms. Sonali
Paradkar and Ms. Medha Taskar. An
MCQ test based on the Library skills
was set and corrected by the two. This
was part of the CIA in the subject
Science writing.
Medha B. Taskar
Librarian
We say we love flowers, yet we pluck them. We say we love trees, yet we cut them down. And people still
wonder why some are afraid when told they are loved.
- Author Unknown
106
Life Sciences and Biochemistry
The year 2011 - 2012 presented
numerous highlights for the Life
Sciences & Biochemistry Department.
Firstly, Dr. Nandita Mangalore was
appointed the Vice Principal for
Academic Improvement from June
2011. and Dr. Priya Sundarrajan
was appointed the Director of Caius
Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory,
from June 2012.
On the occasion of the FY orientation
in July, our ex students Tanvi
Shashikant and Rucha Tillu gave
a motivational talk to the first year
students and welcomed them to the
Department.
using human peripheral leukocytes
as a model system’.
• Dr. Sheela Donde conducted a
programme on “Experimental
Design” for First and Second year
students.
Guest Speakers:
1. World renowned scientist Dr. Eva
Marder gave a talk on ‘Neural
circuit variation in normal adults’
to our students and faculty on the
4th of Jan, 2012.
We held our annual TYBSc and MSc
Farewell party on 28th February, 2012,
in the College Hall
Honours Projects:
• Dr. Radiya Pacha Gupta and Dr.
Seema Das conducted a project on
‘Caenorhabditis elegans as a model
system for toxicological studies’.
• Dr. Priya Sundarrajan and Ms.
Sangeeta Shetty conducted a
project on ‘Toxicity evaluation
Diploma in Clinical Research:
Our fifth batch of Diploma in
Clinical Research (a self-financing
Course) consisted of 25 students,
out of which, after completion of
the course, 23 students have been
placed for internship, or have already
secured permanent jobs in the Clinical
Research industry. The other two are
awaiting their MSc results before
taking up internship.
Activities and achievements
of the faculty:
The Department along with the CIF,
organized a Workshop on ‘Techniques
in Animal Tissue Culture and Gas
Chromatography’ from the 16th –
18th June, 2011. Dr. Priya Sundarrajan
was the organizer and coordinator of
the workshop.
Our SY and the TY students were
taken for an educational tour and
seminar to Khandala, on 7th, 8th and
9th of Jan, 2011 with staff members
Prof Prashant Ratnaparkhi, Dr.
Priya Sundarrajan and Prof. Sheetal
Fernandes. Our ex-student, currently
a lawyer and lecturer at Government
Law College, Mr. Kishu Daswani
conducted a workshop with the
students on ‘Personality Development’
Mr. Chaitanya Purandare, also an exstudent of the Life Sciences department
delivered a resourceful talk on 'Stem
Cells' as part of the seminar. The
second year students made their CIA
presentations in Khandala.
laws and policies’ to the third year
students as part of their course in
environmental sciences.
Dr. Sheela Donde
• participated in the 2nd Workshop
for DST-INSPIRE Internship Camp
organizers, organized by DST and
IISER, Pune at Pune, on 13th and
14th of April, 2012.
2. Famous gynecologist, Dr. Anjali
Malpani gave a talk on ‘Assisted
reproductive Technologies’ to our
SYBA students as part of the cross
faculty course in ‘Nutrition and
Reproductive Health’
The following ex-students were invited
to deliver guest lectures:
1. Dr. Dhanisha Zaveri from
Queensland University, Australia
gave a talk on ‘Neurogenesis’ to
our third year students on the
17th of Jan, 2012.
2. Dr. Kaumudi Joshi from University
of Chicago, gave a talk on
‘Evolution by Gene Duplication’
on 17th Jan, 2012 to the third
year Life sciences students.
3. Dr. Niyati Parekh, gave a talk to
our students on Public Health and
Epidemiology in November, 2011.
4. Fiona Desouza, a patent attorney
at Law firm ‘Kaitan & Co’ gave a
talk on ‘Environmental Sciences
107
• participatedintheUGCAcademic
Staff College Workshop on
“e-content development and setup and usage of virtual classroom”
from14th to 17th March, 2012, at
University of Mumbai, Mumbai
400098.
• gave a poster presentation on
“Development of a recombinant
Deinococcus radiodurans strain
expressing Bacillus pumilis
endoglucanase enzyme.” at the
UGC sponsored International
Symposium on “Current Trends
in Life Sciences,” on 9th March,
2012, at the University of Mumbai.
• attendedthe19thBiennialmeeting
of the International Society for
Developmental Neuroscience, 11th
– 14th Jan. 2012, at TIFR, Mumbai.
• attended the NCBS, Bangalore:
Conference on “ Genes to
Olfaction, ” on 2nd Jan. 2012
• has been appointed as a Mentor
by the DST for their INSPIRE
programme. She gave talks on
Neuroscience at Gwalior, MP:
Subhash Chandra Bose College,
on 25th Dec. 2011, Bijnor, UP:
Krishna College, on 28th Jan, 2012
• gaveaposterpresentationentitled,
“Cloning of the endoglucanase
gene from Bacillus pumilis and
its expression in Deinococcus
radiodurans” at the XXXI
Annual Conference of Society
of Toxicology, India, and
International Symposium on
Current Trends in Environmental
Toxicology, 22nd to 24th Dec, 2011
at Jaipur.
Dr. Radiya Pacha Gupta
Prof. Girija Balan
• attended a two day Hands on
Workshop in Flow Cytometry
organized by the Mumbai
Immunology Group, ACTREC,
Mumbai on 30 June - 1st July,
2011.
participated in the DAE-BRNS
Life Sciences Symposium 2011 on
“Advances in Molecular and Cell
Biology of Stress Response” held from
12th -14th October, 2011 at BARC,
Mumbai.
• participated in the National
Workshop for Undergraduate
Biology Teachers, Pune, jointly
organized by IISER Pune and the
MES Abasaheb Garware College,
11th -14th Jan 2012.
participated in the third Annual
Workshop for Faculty in the Ford
Pathways to Higher Education
Pragramme between 8-9 December,
2011 conducted by Center for Study
of Culture and Society (CSCS),
Bangalore.
• Sachin Telang, SRF, Dr.Sheela
Donde’s Ph.d student, submitted
his PhD thesis entitled “Cloning
of Cellulase genes from cellulolytic
microorganisms into Deinococcus
radiodurans in context to
radioactive waste,” to Mumbai
University in October, 2011.
• attended hands on workshop on
Caenorhabditis elegans organized
by Sophia College, Mumbai in
February 2012.
Dr. Nandita Mangalore
• attended the Nobel lectures on
'Innate Immunity' organized by
Sophia College, Mumbai in January
2012.
• helped organize an Orientation
seminar for new teachers in June
2011.
• presentedaseminaron'Innovative
Teaching Learning Methods' to
the faculty of St. Xavier's College,
Mumbai, on 1st March, 2012.
• conducted a session on “Student
Evaluation” on October 10, 2011
at the Orientation program
conducted by the Academic Staff
College, Mumbai.
• presented a paper on “Quality
Mechanisms: A case study of St.
Xavier’s College” at the Professional
Development Conference for
Principals and Administrators of
colleges in Maharashtra, Feb 13-15,
2012, held in St. Xavier’s College on
behalf of Academic Staff College,
Mumbai.
conducted two-hour sessions on
“How to make effective powerpoint
presentations” for 40 students enrolled
under the “Equal Opportunity Cell”
of St. Xavier’s College.
Dr. Nandita Mangalore, Dr. Radiya
Pacha Gupta, Dr. Seema Das, Prashant
Ratnaparkhi, Sangeeta Shetty, Sheetal
Fernandes & Girija Balan participated
in a workshop on ‘Techniques in
Animal Tissue Culture and Gas
Chromatography’ organized by the
Department of Life Sciences and
Biochemistry and CIF from the 16th
– 18th June, 2011.
• presented a paper on “Quality
Assurance and Best Practices at
St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai” at
a UGC sponsored conference at
Fr. Agnel College, Goa on July 8,
2011.
• presentedanddefendedaproposal
submitted by St. Xavier’s College to
the Department of Biotechnology
for financial support under the Star
College Scheme in New Delhi, on
Dec 30, 2011.
was resource person for the workshop
titled “Developing a Four Year
Integrated B.Sc. and B.Ed. Programme”,
organized by Central University of
Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur at the Center
for Contemporary Studies (CCS), IISc,
Bangalore on 27-28 Jan 2012.
Prof. Sheetal Fernandes
Participated in a Teacher's Orientation
Programme from 14th Sep – 12th Oct,
2011 organized by the UGC Academic
Staff College, Mumbai.
was resource person for the ATC &
GC workshop held at the CIF, St.
Xavier’s College. She demonstrated
the Lyophilization technique.
received a grant of Rs. 40,000 from
the University of Mumbai for her
project on “ A preliminary survey of
the effect of temperature and radiation
stress on Chironomus larvae”
108
Prof Sangeeta Shetty participated in a
Refresher Course in Life Sciences from
Sep 26th to Oct 15th, 2011 held in
Khalsa College, Mumbai.
• Seema Das and Sangeeta
Shetty attended a conference
in Ruia College, Mumbai on
'Interdisciplinary Strategies in
Biology' on the 16th and 17th
Dec, 2011
• PrashantRatnaparkhiandSangeeta
Shetty attended a one day workshop
on ‘Patent and Technology
Transfer’, organized by UICT
Mumbai on 27 Feb, 2012.
• Dr. Priya Sundarrajan and Prof
Sangeeta Shetty along with MSc
student Nandini Kasarpalkar
presented a poster at the
International Seminar on 'Current
Trend in Lifesciences' organized
by the Department of LifeScience,
University of Mumbai, Kalina on
9th March, 2012.
• Dr.RadiyaPachaGupta,Dr.Seema
Das, along with MSc students Mr.
Shawn Braganza and Ms. Sai Barve
presented a poster titled 'Study of
the Teratogenic and Toxic Effects of
Cadmium and Lithium using Chick
as a Model System' at the UGC
sponsored International Seminar
on 'Current Trends in Life Sciences'
organized by the Department of
LifeScience, University of Mumbai,
Kalina on 9th March 2012.
• Dr.RadiyaPachaGupta,Dr.Priya
Sundarrajan, Prof Sangeeta Shetty
and Prof Girija Balan attended a
five day National workshop on
“Computational Biology” held
between 21st – 25th March, 2012,
organized by the Department of
Biotechnology and Bioinformatics,
D.Y. Patil University, Navi Mumbai.
• Dr.RadiyaPachaGupta,Dr.Priya
Sunderrajan, and Prof. Sangeeta
Shetty attended the Workshop
on “Science Communication,”
organized by St. Xavier’s College,
Mumbai on 16th April, 2012.
Students’ participation &
achievements:
Second year students:1
• Joshua Miranda and Mugdha
Devalkar are selected for a fully
paid scholarship for a semester at
Oxford University, UK where they
will be studying Human Ecology,
Genetics and Neurosciences as part
of their course work.
• Neelima Vaddadi, Dhwani
Valia, Sarah Chordekar, Sukanya
Charuchandra and Shreya Banerjee
were selected for a summer course
at Bath University, UK from 12th
May to 4th of June, 2012. They
will be having lecture series,
practicals and project work in
the fields on Molecular Biology,
Developmental Biology, Cell
Biology and Bioinformatics during
that period at Bath University.
• Jennifer Aranha, Janice D'mello,
Leora D'souza, Neelima Vaddadi,
Rohan
Ichhaporia,
Vishal
Dasani, Ivan Fernandes, Mugdha
Devalkar, Priti Pandey, Nishma
Mathias, Merlyn D'souza, Jessica
D'souza, Alison Augusty, Fleur
D'Silva, Jervis Fernandes, Sheldon
Fernandes, Sarah Chordekar,
Shreya Banerjee, Joshua Miranda,
Silvia Fernandes, Jencyl D'souza,
Reema D'souza and Karan Shah
gave the qualifying examination of
an All India Inter-college science
challenge 'Mimamsa' organized by
IISER, Pune.
First year Students :
• Nine of our First year students:
Ashwin
D'souza,
Clinton
Fernandes, Danette Gomes,
Upasana Potleth, Siddant Pusdekar,
Zeba Khatri, Aditi Kaimarkar,
Deepika Karmarkar and Nalini
Pinto received the DBT-INSPIRESHE scholarship (Scholarship for
Higher Education). Many of these
students have enrolled for small
summer research projects under the
guidance of professors Dr. Sheela
Donde, Dr. Radiya Pacha Gupta, Dr.
Seema Das, Dr. Priya Sudarrajan
and Ms. Sangeeta Shetty.
Third year students:
• Our third year students: Pallavi
Gangavali, Akshat Shetty and
Rebecca Ambrose did a Biotech
Workshop at Nair hospital.
Internships
• Our third year students: Rohini
Sekhar and Sonika Paul did
internships at Jaslok Hospital in
their Genetics and Biochemistry
Departments respectively.
• Rohini Sekhar also did a one
month internship at ‘Kokilaben
Ambani Hospital’ in the 'Genetics
& Molecular Biology Department'
• Akanksha Agarwal worked in
Dr.Shubha Tole's lab at TIFR
during the summer of 2011. She
also participated in Ozone fest
Quiz organized by the Institute of
Sciences, Mumbai.
109
• Akanksha Agrawal and Racheal
Fernandes did a Biotech Workshop
in Hyderabad.
• Sehyr Taly was the SSL Project
Secretary for the year. She was
the student coordinator for the
International Programme at St.
Xavier's College.
• Many of our students did
internships at various places like
Vanashakti (Enviroment NGO),
OIKOS- Ecological solutions
company, ANET (Andaman &
Nicobar Environmental Team) etc.
• MSc students Aadishree J. and
Unnati Pendurkar worked on a
project at Dr. Shobhona Sharma's
lab at TIFR in the months of
June and July, 2011. Their project
topic was 'To verify whether single
nucleotide polymorphism in IL-10
gene influences the outcome of
falciparum malarial infections in
an endemic population in Orissa’.
MSc Research projects
1. Chick embryo as a model system
for toxicological studies – Schawn
Braganza and Sai Barve under Dr.
Radiya Pacha Gupta and Dr. Seema
Das.
2. Human peripheral leukocyte
culture for toxicity studies. –
Nandini Kasarpalkar under Dr.
Priya Sundarrajan.
Student Toppers:
TY 6 Units: Wendy D’souza and Tanvi
Shashikant secured first and third ranks
respectively in the University exams.
TY 3 Units: Nidhi Som and Rinali
Roy secured first and second ranks
respectively in the University exams
The department’s award for the most
hard-working student over three years
of graduation between 2009 – 2011
was given to Shikha Ghosh of TY 6U.
Msc Part 2:
Erena James and Unnati Pendurkar
were held the first and second ranks
respectively in the University exams.
Dr. Ms. Sheela Donde
Head, Department of Life Sciences
& Biochemistry
Mathematics
The year started with excellent T.Y.B.Sc
results. Two students scored more than
90% marks and many got first class.
Kumar Ransom got 92% and topped
the college merit list.
This was a busy academic year for
the faculty. In fact the activities started
before the year began. Prof. Sandhya
Gupte of Junior college attended a
3 days Maths workshop at NevasaAhmednagar organized by the Pune
board for the upgraded F.Y.J.C. syllabus
in May 2011. She also completed
‘In service Training Programme’
for selection grade in May-2011.
She was invited to be a resource
person at the training programme of
Junior college Mathematics teachers
of Mumbai division in July for the
upgraded syllabus. She was also invited
to be a reviewer for the upgraded
Mathematics and Statistics text books
for S.Y.J.C. by the Pune board. Later
she got the opportunity to attend a
workshop in the Regional Institute of
Education, Bhopal to develop skills in
assessment of higher order thinking
in Mathematics from 30th January to
3rd February 2012.
Prof. Sandhya Gupte and Prof. Sarada
devi attended the conference in IISER,
Pune conducted under the National
Initiative on Mathematics Education
(NIME) in December 2011. Prof.
Sarada Devi attended its follow-up in
HBCSE in January 2012.
Prof. Ashok Bingi attended a two
days national workshop on ‘Research
Methodology’ sponsored by ICSSR,
WRO at Nanavati women’s college
on 27th and 28th June 2011. He
participated in the UGC-sponsored
‘Orientation Program’ at the University
of Mumbai from 14th September to
12th October 2011. He successfully
completed the Ph.D. course work in
November 2011 and the Ph.D. bridge
course in February 2011 in Shivaji
University, Kolhapur. In the college
he worked as a coordinator of the
Mathematics Honours Program.
Dr. Mangala Gurjar got selected by
the college to go to Boston College,
USA, on a faculty development and
interaction program in the first week
of June 2012.
Dr. Mangala Gurjar continued to work
as the Mumbai region coordinator
Aryabhata was the first in the line of
great mathematician-astronomers from
the classical age of Indian mathematics
and Indian astronomy.
and examiner for the National level
‘Madhava Mathematics Competition’
conducted by HBCSE. This year the
examination was conducted in many
new regions of India. In order to
prepare the students of Mumbai region
Mrs. Gurjar organized problem solving
workshops in 3 colleges - Somaiya,
St. Xavier’s and Ismail Yusuf. Around
100 students from different colleges
attended the workshops. Mrs. Gurjar
worked as a resource person for the St.
Xavier’s College centre. Alan D’Souza
from SY.BSc topped the Mumbai
region.
Mrs. Gurjar took M.Sc. lectures in the
Department of Distance Education in
December 2011. She was invited as a
speaker in the state-level seminar on
“Role of Mathematics in Life Science”
conducted by Modern college, Pune
on 6th and 7th February.
The students as always participated
and won prizes in intercollegiate
competitions. In “Mathematrix” a
festival conducted by Ruia College
in August 2011. SYB.Sc. students Alan
D’Souza and Kartik Verma got the first
and the second prize respectively in
the seminar-competition. Our team
consisting of Alan D’Souza and Sambit
Mitra got the first prize in the quizcompetition in the same festival.
Many students will be busy in the
summer vacation also. Three T.Y.
B.Sc Students Nachiket Karnick,
Grishma Prasad and Anurag Rao
along with four S.Y. B.Sc. students
Alan D’Souza, Ishan Kanungo, Rohit
Bhattacharya and Saumya Gandhi
got selected for the 4 week MTTS
(Mathematics Training and Talent
Search) Programme funded by NBHM.
Ishan Kanungo and Ankit Jain of
S.Y.B.Sc. got selected for the ‘National
program on Differential Equations’
conducted in Bhubaneshwar from 7th
and 26th May 2012. Alan D’Souza also
got selected for the Madhava Summer
Camp conducted in Bhaskaracharya
Pratisthan, Pune from 5th May to
12th May 2012.
We thank our retired Professor Dr.
G.D. Padukone for teaching the crossfaculty course in Mathematics to the
SYBA students.
Dr. Mangala Gurjar
Head, Department of Mathematics.
"The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God"
- Euclid
110
Microbiology
students for the
Programme this year.
Fr. Palacios founded
the Department of
Microbiology in 1932.
“Nothing happens quite by chance.
It is a question of accretion of
information and experience” The
above quotation by Jonas Salk,
American Microbiologist influenced
the department through the academic
year.
The university results for March- April
2011 were very encouraging. 50 % of
the TY students secured over 75%
marks in Microbiology with one third
securing over 80%. The highest score
was 89.66 % in Microbiology with
89.33 % as a close second.
Both the M.Sc students secured a
first class and Mohini Bhattacharya
stood first at the university level in
Microbiology.
Student Activities
-
-
The Annual SY Exhibition Micro
Carnival was organised by the
SY students in July 2011. The
exhibition covered various aspects
of Microbiology and received
a very good response from the
incoming FYs.
• Potability testing of college
drinking water supplies was
carried out on a monthly basis
to ensure safe drinking water rules
& regulations were met.
• The co-ordinator for UMAX was
Ms. Karuna Gokarn.
-
• The Biotechnology module,
conducted for
FY students,
involved growing the Oyster
mushroom Pleurotus sajor and
determining the efficiency of
substrate conversion to mushroom.
Students also determined the
antimicrobial activity of various
herbs and spices.
• The second and third year
students were offered two common
programmes, Biostatistics module
and Animal tissue culture. The
former involved the solving of
problems related to Biostatistics
and the submission of a short
project on SPSS. In the latter
the students attended a series of
lectures on Animal Tissue Culture
and learnt the techniques involved
in the preparation of Chick embryo
fibroblast cell culture and the
subculture of the same. The Third
year students were also offered a
Bioinformatics module.
Honours Programme:
• The Department enrolled 56
Microbiology. Dr. Dave visited the
department on 26th November 2011
and gave an inspiring lecture to the
students. Tragically, Dr. Bhal Dave left
for his heavenly abode on the morning
of 6th March 2012. May God grant
peace to his soul.
-
Dr. Ms. Shailaja Rabindran
(alumna of 1983) gave an elaborate
talk to the students on the use
of plant tissue culture in vaccine
development on 12th December
2011.
-
Tarang Sharma ( an alumna of
2000) explained aspects of public
health and career opportunities in
the field on 20th December, 2011.
-
Mr. Sharad Parikh ( an alumnus
of 1962) donated Rs. One lakh
towards the development of the
department.
The Department is very grateful for
the generous donations it has received
from its alumni
-
Workshops:
• The co-ordinator was Ms. Miriam
Stewart
• HACCP principles conducted for
canteen staff of the college. Ms
Asha Sridhar, Head- Food Safety,
TUV India Pvt. Ltd. was the
resource person
-
The Department Annual Seminar
at Khandala was held in November
2011.The theme was ‘Public Health’.
Various public health aspects of
Malaria, Nosocomial infections,
HIV, MRSA, Influenza, MDR TB,
Food safety were presented by the
students. The co-ordinator was Ms.
Sangeetha Chavan.
-
SYBSc students made Oral Poster
presentations on practical projects
which were judged by Ms. Rucha
Kurtikoti and Aniket Sharma
(professionals in the field of science
communication) – March 2012
Faculty Activities.
• Elevenstudentswereawardedthe
Honour’s Programme certificates
UMAX Activities:
• Micro Day was held on 14th
October 2011 with great
enthusiasm. Along with the
department reports & results of
2010-11, cultural activities were
also included.
Honours
-
Other Events
- Dr. Bhal Dave ( alumnus of 1955)
established the Dave Family Trust
Fund Scholarship, by contributing
$ 10,000, for graduate studies in
111
December 2011
• Awareness of Infectious diseases
for the non-teaching staff of the
college – with the help of SY and
TY students – December, 2011
These workshops were organised by
Dr. Ms. Vivien Amonkar and Ms.
Karuna Gokarn
-
Dr. Ms. Vivien Amonkar
Research publication:
Aakanksha Ghatpande, Dr. Ms.
Vivien Amonkar ‘Solid state
fermentation for degradation of
fruit and vegetable waste and
production of significant enzymes’
XPLORE, Xavier’s research
journal, Vol. 2, Issue 1, December
2011
Oral Presentations
• ‘ServiceLearning–anexperiential
learning pedagogy in quality higher
education’ at the NAAC sponsored
seminar on ‘Quality and Excellence
in Higher Education’ organised by
Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil College,
Vashi on 18th November, 2011.
• ‘TheXavier’sExperienceofturning
Autonomous’ at the Professional
D e ve l opm e nt
Pro g r am m e
organised at St. Xavier’s College
by the Academic Staff College
for academic administrators
and Principals of colleges in
Maharashtra: Feb 13th , 2012
• ‘Approaches to Teaching and
Learning – an Indian Perspective’
at the conference ‘Enhancing the
International Student Learning
Experience in the Biosciences’
organised by the Higher Education
Academy STEM Biosciences and
the Department of Biology &
Biochemistry, University of Bath
at Bath University, UK on May
24th , 2012
• Was part of an International
Presentation at the
'Effective
Learning in the Biosciences
Conference 2011 – Equipping
Students for the 21st Century' held
on the 30th June & 1st July 2011,
Edinburgh First, John McIntyre
Conference Centre, University
of Edinburgh. Momna Hejmadi,
Vivien Amonkar and Madhuri
Hambarde ‘Engaging international
students in biotechnology and
enterprise’
Projects:
• Ongoing : UGC Minor Research
Grant : Project entitled “ Microbial
Synthesis and characterisation of
silver nanoparticles”
nanoparticles from chemical and
fungal sources and evaluation
of antibacterial activity of
nanoparticles impregnated on
textiles. XPLORE, Xavier’s research
journal, Vol. 2, Issue 1, December
2011
• Ongoing: Industrial Project with
Swati Spentose Pvt. Ltd.
• Project - in - charge of the M.Sc
part II project proposed and
funded by the DBT-ICT Center
for Energy Biosciences, Mumbai –
“ Studying soil community DNA
( metagenomics) for endo – GH’s
and cellulose binding” carried out
by Rima Bist. The project was coguided by Dr.Annamma Anil ,
Assistant professor of the centre.
• Guided the M.Sc Part II project
carried out by Amit Rodrigues
– “ Isolation of cellulose
degraders from termite species an
characterization of the cellulases.”
• Member of a St. Xavier’s college
team which collaborated with
Fairfield University Connecticut,
USA and Loyola college, Chennai
on a joint research project
• Coordinated the programs of St.
Xavier’s College as a partner of the
Knowledge Economy Partnerships
2011 under the Internationalising
Higher Education sponsored by
the British Council
-
Ms. Miriam Stewart
• C on fe re nc e atte nd e d –
‘Interdisciplinary Strategies in
Biology’ - at Ruia College on
16th & 17th December 2011
-
Ms. Sangeetha Chavan
• Research publication:
Chavan Sangeetha & Rangarajan
S,(2011), Synthesis of Silver
-
Ms Karuna Gokarn
-
Attended an International
Bioscience Summer Exposure
Program at the University of
Bath from 14th May to 3rd June
2012.The program was sponsored
by the British Council.
-
All the faculty members attended
the in-house workshops on animal
tissue culture, gas chromatography
and Bioinformatics; engaged both
undergraduate and postgraduate
lectures and practicals- were
actively involved in designing
syllabi for the autonomous courses.
-
Cross Faculty course on Infectious
diseases – staying ahead was offered
as part of the autonomous system.
Dr. Yvonne Freitas left for her heavenly
abode on 15th January 2012. Dr.
Freitas touched the lives and hearts
of countless students of Microbiology,
during the forty years she taught in
St. Xavier’s. For several of those years,
she was the Head of the Department
and also served as the Vice Principal
of the college.
The department organised a mass for
Dr. Freitas, on 28th January, 2012 at
St. Xavier’s College Chapel followed by
a memorial service in the college Hall
.May her soul rest in eternal peace.
Dr. Ms. Vivien Amonkar
Head, Department of Microbiology
Physics
Many of our TyBSc students secured
first class.
Prof.(Dr.) Kamat Memorial Lecture
On 6th January 2012 a delightful
lecture called “ The story of
Accelerating Universe”was given by
Dr Aseem Paranjpe . The lecture was
arranged by Prof. Chokshi.
Research Project:
A University minor research
project was granted to Prof.(Dr.)
Shyamala Bodhane. The project is
on comparative study of thin films
of CdS prepared by Chemical bath
112
deposition and Photochemical
deposition methods.
Exhibition:
The Physics students arranged an
exhibition on 5th July 2011 under
the guidance of all the Professors of
the department. The exhibition was
Prof(Dr.) Jyoti Singh
• Worked as Vice President
of
Amateur
Astronomers’
Association.
Prof. Rajesh Singh
• Workedasanexternalexaminerat
J.K. Singhania high school at 12th
Standard level in February 2012.
Prof. Rohan Jadhav
• Participated in International
conference and workshop on
Nanostructured Ceramics and
other nanomaterials.
coordinated by Prof. Chokshi.
Visit:
A visit to H.B.C.S.E. was arranged for
FyBSc students by Prof.(Dr.) Bodhane.
Prof. Rajesh Singh and Prof. Ajay Yadav
accompanied the students.
Night sky Watch:
A night sky watch session for the cross
faculty students of Basic Astronomy
and Physics was arranged on 25th
February 2012 and 26th February 2012
by Prof(Dr.) Jyoti Singh with Amateur
Astronomers’ Association. Prof. Ajay
Yadav accompanied the students.
the department magazine “Celeritas”
for the fourth time. Our students Ms.
Shruti Patel, Ms. Vassiki Chauhan and
Mr. Omkar Khare are the editors. The
lay out is designed by Sambit Mitra.
They are guided by Prof.(Dr.) Bodhane.
Staff Activity:
This year too Prof. Amita Chokshi,
Prof.(Dr.) Shyamala Bodhane worked
as TyBSc. Examiners. Prof. (Dr.)
Vedasankari worked as moderator
for TyBSc Examination. Prof. (Dr.)
Jyoti Singh worked as paper setter and
moderator for TyBSc. Examination.
Prof(Dr.) Bodhane
National Graduate Physics
Examination:
• was examiner for NSEP
Examination conducted by I.A.P.T.
This year the N.G.P.E. Examination was
conducted on 22nd January 2012. Mr.
Sambit Mitra from SyBSc stood first
in the college with 78%. Prof. Amita
Chokshi was the centre- in-Charge of
the examination.
• worked as Moderator for Homi
Bhabha Bal Vaidyanik Practical
Examination for 9th standard
students.
Physics Magazine:
The Physics Department will publish
• Is a member of a Board to set
Practical Examinations papers for
“Orientation Cum Selection camp”
for international Physics Olympiad.
• Published Research article in
Bulletin of material Science on
“Computation of X-ray powder
diffractograms
of
cement
components and its application
to phase analysis and hydration
performance of OPC cement”
Honours Program:
Prof.(Dr.) Shyamala Bodhane was the
co-ordinator for the Honours Program.
Program of problem solving was
conducted by Prof(Dr.) Bodhane in
Mechanics, Prof.(Dr.) Vedasankary
in Thermodynamics, Prof(Dr.) Jyoti
Singh in Electricity and Prof. Rajesh
Singh in Mechanics.
Prof.(Dr.) Bodhane conducted a
program on thin film deposition of
CdS.
Prof.(Dr.) Vedasankari conducted
guided-studies in Liquid Crystals,
Elementary particals and Spectroscopy.
Prof. Ajay Yadav conducted a guided
study in cryptographic technique.
Prof. Amita Chokshi
Head, Dept. of Physics
“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been
only a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a
smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay
all undiscovered before me.”
- Sir Isaac Newton
113
Political Science
Politics is a ubiquitous feature
of contemporary life, and we are
constantly filled with information
about politics every day in the media
and in daily conversation. People
around the world debate, give speeches,
write letters and blogs, vote, and
care passionately about politics. The
academics discipline of political
science reflects the excitement.
The Department of Political Science
encourages students to take wellthought out positions on the critical
issues of the times and have varied
experiences through its activities and
Honours Programme workshops.
The XPSA committee comprises
elected student-members:Nikita
Sonavane and Souryadeep Banerjee
(SYBA), Sania Galundia, Manasa
Hegde, Mahtab Irani (TYBA).
For the last six years the committee has
organized activities related to politics,
which ensure that the student goes
beyond the classroom to understand
lessons taught in class. Keeping up with
this ideal, the XPSA began an activity
filled academic year by the showcasing
of 3 films which highlighted issues of
political importance.
Rakesh Sharma’s documentaries Final
Solution and Aftershocks: A Rough
guide to Democracy were shown on
the first 2 days, and which were
followed by discussions initiated by
the audience. On the third day we
showcased the national award winning
film, Land Gold Woman directed by
Avantika Hari. It is the first film in
English that deals with the issue of
honor killings.
The XPSA organized the first ever
British Parliamentary Debate in
Mumbai and the second to be held
in India which was sponsored by TATA
Docomo and Killer Jeans. Organized
from 25th – 27th of November the
debate saw more than 30 teams
participate from across the nation
including those from IIT Bombay,
NLU Jodhpur, NLS Bangalore, Nirma
University, MICA, RVCE. The event
was inaugurated by Principal, Fr.
Frazer Mascarehnas, and the teams
vigorously argued on motions such
as ‘THB in the absolute freedom
of Speech’, THBT Israel should
preemptively strike Iran’s nuclear
facilities’. And THW absolve those
who were “only following orders”,
among others.
Honours Programme Workshops:
A workshop on the ‘Right to Privacy’
was held on 17th September 2011,
and was conducted by Dr. Kannamma
S. Raman.
The annual Khandala Seminar was
organized from the 17th to the 19th
November 2011, where students
presented papers on ‘Crisis in
Libya’, ‘Uprising in Egypt’, ‘Effects
of Gandhism on Indian Politics’,
‘Socialism in India’, and ‘Proxy Wars
during the Cold War’ among others.
The Annual Group Seminar for the
FYBA and SYBA was held on the 1st
and 2nd of December 2011, where
students presented on important
current issues ranging from ‘Youth
in Politics’, ‘BMC Elections’, ‘Coalition
Politics in Maharashtra’, ‘Scheduled
Tribes of Maharashtra: The Katkari
Tribe’ and ‘Scramble for Africa’.
In this year, the XPSA has ventured
into new arenas of social and political
interactions, providing our students
with an exposure that enhanced their
literary and debating skills.
Aruna Sundresh
Head, Department of
Political Science
Psychology
‘Explore Psych’ – our Educational
Travel Co. is happy to present its
annual report about its successful
package offers and other travel
programs for the academic year 20112012. Special perks & discounts were
the fruit of the labors of our clientele
- our students, based on their exam
performance and their academic travel
needs. Our T.Y.B.A. students – Hansika
Kapoor, Maherra Khambatty and Gayle
Gama Menezes did us proud, securing
University ranks – 1st, 5th and 8th
respectively, which served as free
tickets to educational postgraduate
destinations of their choice – in India
or abroad.
wanted to experience travel to
foreign shores signed up for our
ongoing international travel program
with Yeshiva University, New York.
It consisted of participation in a
lecture series, group presentations
and a research project, the theme
being ‘Anger, Hostility & Aggression’.
The resource persons were Dr.
Sonia Suchday, Dr. Rosy Chabbra
and Ms. Karel Amantral of Yeshiva
University, who brought along ten of
their American students for this joint
venture, along with Prof. Maureen
Almeida, Prof. Ruby Pavri, and
Prof. Linda Dhakul of St. Xavier’s
Psychology Department.
Those Psychology students who
For others who wished to go on a local
114
tour, with tour guides including several
of our ex-students currently serving
as Psychologists in different fields, we
held a lecture series on Contemporary
Issues in Applied Psychology. This
gave them the opportunity to view the
exciting landscapes in Social, Clinical,
Counseling and Industrial Psychology.
We also organized weekend getaways
for those who could only spare 15
hours to rejuvenate themselves with
the experiential learning offered
through our workshops conducted
by competent tour guides. They
suited different needs and interests
of our clients, the affordable costs
and limited seats often leading to
advance booking and wait listing. The
workshops provided their participants
with the once in a lifetime experience
of sight-seeing the varied domains
of Advertising & Culture, Rational
Emotive Therapy, Stress Management,
Time Management, Eating Disorders,
Media Literacy and Marriage, Sex &
Reproduction.
If you have never been to Khandala
for the Annual Psychology Department
seminar, you have missed out on one
of the outstanding offers of our travel
itinerary that guarantees our tour
participants the cool climate and green,
scenic environs of Khandala, tasty hot
meals at St. Mary’s Villa and most
importantly, food for thought through
the paper presentations. The subject
for this year’s seminar was Love,
Sex, Marriage & Reproduction, with
inspiring papers on tantalizing topics
such as Power play in Relationships,
Commitment, Sex & Religion,
Pedophilia, Hyper sexuality and many
more. Those who volunteer to organize
the travel arrangements for our next
year’s seminar to a new locale, say
Switzerland and present a research
based paper on its theme, can avail
of this tour for free!
Whether you chose to travel by bus,
train or plane to whatever destination
you wish, you would do well to carry
a copy of Uncommon Sense, the
travelogue (read our Department’s
annual magazine ) of ‘Explore
Psych’. This year’s edition revolved
around ‘Psychology of Movies &
Music’, providing an entertaining and
insightful journey to travelers of all
ages and disciplines.
We do urge you to opt for such
similar exciting offers of ‘Explore
Psych’ for the academic year 20122013, as soon as possible. It is these
experiences that will make your tours
and travels through the academic
world of Psychology at St. Xavier’s
most enriching and fulfilling.
Prof. Maureen Almeida
Head, Department of Psychology
Sociology and Anthropology
Like in the past, the department of
Sociology & Anthropology made
it a point to go beyond academics
and involve its students in extracurricular & co-curricular activities.
The Sociology Academy organized a
film screening followed by a panel
discussion as part of ‘Humari Zindagi,
Humari Choice’, a campaign organised
by women and gender- rights groups
to End Violence Against Women.
In January 2012, the Academy also
organized a 3- day Career workshop
which gave the students of Sociology
& Anthropology an insight into the
available career opportunities. Experts
from Media, Human Resources,
Research, etc were present to share
their experiences and motivate the
students.
The Sociology Academy aimed
to synthesize Sociology and
Anthropology with viable themes
that generated interest among the
student-community.A few exhibitions
such as ‘Culture Sketches’ were
held by the first year Anthropology
students. The Second year students
worked on the theme of ‘Culture
Studies’. Additionally, the professors
incorporated supplementary film
screenings, presentations & articles
to make their lectures more interesting,
interactive and meaningful.
The Honors Programme co-ordinated
by Prof.Vinita Bhatia and Prof.
Fr.M.T.Joseph was appreciated for its
practical implications.The following
are the workshops/sessions conducted
as part of the Honors programme:
A workshop on Visual Anthropology
was conducted by Sayalee Karkare. The
aim of the course was to introduce
students to a sub- field in anthropology,
namely visual anthropology. The
visual forms used were films and
documentaries, followed by active
discussions which brought forth an
array of opinions and perspectives. For
the assignment, students had to pick
a film of their choice and analyze it
from an anthropological lens.
People and the Environment was
conducted by Sunetro Ghosh. This
eight- session lecture series revolved
around the ‘environment’. These
lectures encouraged the students to
think critically and to think beyond
the ‘perceived obvious’. It drew on
several lines of thought to provide a
cross- disciplinary canvas to explore
ideas of the environment.
Understanding society through
Film was conducted by Sayalee
Karkare. The programme was
aimed at examining how films affect
society and vice- versa. Interesting
films from world cinema such as
‘The Edukators’, ‘Le Quatre Cents
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Coups’, ‘Taxi Driver’ etc were screened
followed by interactive discussions and
presentations.
The workshop helped students gain an
insight and understand how closely
films and society are intertwined and
enable them to be more critical.
Islam and Society
Conducted by Dr. Zeenat Shaukat Ali
This programme focused on
introducing the students to the basics
of Islam and helped throw light on the
common misconceptions the religion
holds. Interesting topics such as ‘Jihad’,
‘Islam and Democracy’ and “The Arab
Spring’ were dealt with during the
course of the workshop.
Career Workshop
Conducted by a group of exXavierites
This programme aimed at making the
graduating students expose to the wide
variety of career options flourishing
for them. It covered topics from HR,
consultancy, research and law to film
making, advertising, development and
NGOs.
Media Workshop was conducted
by Ms. Apoorwa Gupta. It focused
on imparting some basic facts about
media constructions, demystifying the
glamour and fantasy, and learning
ways to authenticate the information
provided to us through such vast foray
of audio, visual and text messages.
The Annual Department Seminar in
Khandala was based on the theme of
‘Cultures of Consumption’. It witnessed
students presenting papers that were
both in theory and the empirical world.
The focus being on the influence of
consumption on culture, the topics
covered a wide range.
The department has seen quite a few
achievements this year:
Dr. Sam Taraporevala was on the
Committee of Internal Quality
Assurance Cell, Convener for the
Board of Studies for the Department
of Sociology and Anthropology and
the Director of the Xavier’s Resource
Centre for the Visually Challenged
(XRCVC). He has attended and
participated in various seminars in
this academic year. These include:
the Staff seminar on the theme of
Research. He presented a paper on
the topic of “Accessible ATM the
Social Need, Prerequisites and the “
Current Reality” at the Access India
(AI) convention at Trivandrum.
Presentations : Dr.Sam Made the
following presentations:
• presented a paper on “Building
social inclusion through higher
education interventions – A case
study: The XRCVC Experience” at
the seminar “Access for Persons
with Disabilities to Higher
Education and workplaces” held
at IIM, Bangalore. Paper published.
• Presented a paper at a session on
"Technology - Showing the way for
inclusive education of the disabled"
at the Techshare Conference 2012
held at New Delhi.
He was part of a National Seminar
and there he chaired a session on
Catering to Diverse Needs through
Asynchronous learning strategies as
part of the 19th Senior Scholars’
Seminar Series on the theme:
Building Asynchronous Learning
Environments: Opportunities and
Challenges held at K J Somaiya College
of Education and Research.
Prof. Madhuri Raijada is a member
of The Council of International
Programmes, coordinator of the
Infrastructure and Cleanliness
Committee, member of The Academic
Board of the College (as head of BMM)
and also a member of the Board
of Studies for Sociology and BMM.
She has also attended a couple of
seminars including The Staff Seminar
on ‘Psychological needs of Students
and Mentoring’ in August, A National
Seminar on ‘Sociology in India and
the Bombay School: Retrospect
and Prospects’, organized by the
Department of Sociology- University
of Mumbai and Indian Sociological
Association.
Prof. Vinita Bhatia is on the Exam
Committee and the coordinator of
the Sociology Honors Programme.
She was also part of the college team
that visited Stern at New York, USA
from the 22nd of May to 5th of
June 2011. She also was invited as a
resource person by Population First to
speak on the theme of Contemporary
Feminist Theories.
Dr. (Fr.) Arun de Souza is on the
Management Board of the college.
At the Malhar Conclave, Fr. Arun
chaired the main session wherein
Binayak Sen shared his ideas on
development. He attended the staff
seminar in August and attended
a three- day National Seminar on
‘Challenges to Human rights in the 21st
Century’ organized by the department
of Civics and Politics- University of
Mumbai and Maharashtra Human
Rights Commission and has submitted
his paper for publication. He also
attended and presented a paper at the
National Seminar- ‘Sociology in India
and the Bombay School: Retrospect
and Prospects’ organized by the
Department of Sociology- University
of Mumbai and the Indian Sociological
Association. In January, this year,
he visited Canada for a workshop
titled “Youth Leading Environmental
Change (YLEC): Creating Effective
Youth Environmental Engagement
Programs” from the 26th to the 29th
of January 2012 which was sponsored
by Wilfrid Laurier University in
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Waterloo, Canada. At this workshop
he also presented a paper titled,
"Environmentalisms in India: a
Multicoloured Tapestry."
Dr. Fr. M.T. Joseph was on
the Committee of the Women’s
Development Cell. He presented a
paper on ‘Democracy, Civil Society
and the State’- a reflection on the
anti- corruption crusade in Bhopal
in July. He also attended the staff
seminar in August.
Nandika Kumari was the Sociology
subject topper at the University Level
at the TYBA Board Examinations 2011.
Aditi Nayak was topper of the
Department of sociology and
Anthropology in the TYBA Board
Examinations 2011.
The Department would like to record
its thanks to Ms. Vidya Balan for
her generous support in helping to
refurbish the department.
The Department is looking forward to
its Academics, co-curricular and extracurricular activities in the coming
year. It has worked on a wide variety
of updated and new courses to be
offered in Semesters V and VI as
part of the Autonomy system. These
courses include Modern Sociological
Theory, Gender Studies, Media Culture
and Society, Sociology of Work
and Management, Popular Culture,
Sociology of Food, Research Methods
in Sociology, Urban Sociology,
Sociology of the Life Course, Sociology
of Human Resource Development,
Anthropology of Development,
Socio-Cultural Movements, Subaltern
Studies, Anthropology: Perspectives,
Theories and Frameworks and Applied
Anthropology.
We appreciate the enthusiastic
participation of students across
departments.
Dr. Sam Taraporevala
Head, Department of Sociology.
Statistics
The academic year, 2011 – 2012, also
the silver jubilee year of the department,
began on a happy and enthusiastic note
for all of us. The staff and students took
great pride and pleasure in bringing out
the first issue of the annual magazine
of the department ‘The Plot 201112’, to celebrate the silver jubilee
of the department. Another major
highlight was the commencement of
‘The Stats Society’, a student body of
the Department of Statistics. ‘The Stats
Society’ aims at spreading awareness
about the wide applications of statistics
to people from different academic
backgrounds by organizing various
events like workshops, guest lectures
etc.
We are proud of the excellent results
secured by our T.Y.B.Sc and T.Y.B.A
students. Our student Shanthi
Sreedharan made the Department and
college proud by securing 91.6% at
the T.Y.B.Sc University examinations.
Our students enthusiastically and
actively took part in various intercollegiate festivals.
• In the quiz competition held
by Sankhyiki at N.M College,
Anwesha and Indivar from T.Y.B.Sc
secured 2nd place; Shruti Suresh
and Taanya Khare of S.Y.B.Sc
secured the 4th place
• In the poster making competition
at Statistica held by Jhunjhunwala
College, Sangeeta and Sheeja of
S.Y.B.Sc were awarded 2nd prize
• Statsxplo of Somaiya college
saw many firsts from Xavier’s:
Abhimanyu and Sachin of
S.Y.B.Sc won the 1st prize in
quiz ; Abhimanyu, Kartik, Sachin
,Shaurya, Surbhi of S.Y.B.Sc were
awarded the 1st prize in the
project competition; Sayok and
Anwesha of T.Y.B.Sc came 1st in
T-shirt painting.
Prof.Piyali Unnikrishnan continued
as the Honours Coordinator and
efficiently organized 8 activities. 67
students registered for these courses.
Our ex-student Madhura.R, presently
doing her M.B.A with X.I.M.R,
conducted a course on “ Statistics
using EXCEL”. Apart from this, the
department organized add-on courses
on various statistical packages like
Minitab, R-stat and Latex to ensure
that our students are well-equipped on
completing their graduation. Lecture
series on Total Quality Management
and Market Research Programme were
also conducted.
Prof Pooja Ochaney was invited as
Subject
expert for the placement
interview at Kirti Dongursee College.
Prof Pooja Ochaney and Prof S.
Annapurna were special invitees for
the Board of Studies meeting held
in the University of Mumbai for
finalizing the B.A , B.Sc and M.Sc
syllabi. Prof S. Annapurna and Prof
Piyali Unnikrishnan attended a 2 day
course on R-stat at the Department
of Statistics , Mumbai University.
Prof S.Annapurna attended a oneday seminar at the Department of
Statistics,University of Mumbai on
‘Application of Statistics’.
We are glad that five of our students
got admission for post-graduate
studies at some of the prestigious
international universities like Warwick,
Yale, London School of Economics etc.
Our students have been well-placed
in various companies through the
campus placements.
The department held the Board of
Studies meeting to finalize the T.Y.B.Sc
and T.Y.B.A syllabus. The members
of the department contributed their
valuable suggestions. The student
members too actively participated in
the discussion.
Looking forward with enthusiasm for
the next academic year.
Prof (Ms) Pooja Ochaney
Head, Department of Statistics
Zoology
The Department organized the
following activities for 2011-2012:
Departmental trips
The department took TY students on
a study tour to Agricultural University,
Dapoli on August 18th -21st 2011.
SY students went to Dapoli to study
Dairy Science on December 6th and
7th 2011.
A Lecture course on Nervous
Disorders was conducted by Dr.
Ryan Pereira. Students were graded
on the basis of their attendance and
performance in the test and were
awarded two credits.
Honour’s Programme
The Department Of Zoology
conducted the following activities as
part of the Honour’s Program for the
academic year 2011-12
A Lecture course on Molecular
Biology of the Eukaryotic Cell was
conducted by Mr. Stefan Fernandes.
The students were awarded two
credits and graded on the basis
of their attendance, submission of
an assignment and performance in
the test. The lectures described the
important molecular events that occur
in the eukaryotic cell. The topics
that were covered included protein
degradation, cell cycles, apoptosis, cell
senescence, cell signaling, molecular
events in cancer development, genomic
imprinting, gene silencing and cell
inter convertibility.
Hands on experience in Molecular
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Biology Techniques involving
DNA isolation (Plant and Animal
DNA), Plasmid isolation, Cloning,
Transformation, SDS page gel,
Restriction digestion, PCR - a
practical-oriented course was
conducted by Prof. Conrad Cabral.
Two credits were awarded to the
students on the basis of their
attendance and submission of a report.
Photodocumentation of Molluscan
shells was conducted by Dr. Smita
Krishnan. One credit was awarded
and students were graded on the basis
of their photodocumentation.
Staff activities
Dr. Smita Krishnan Dr. Pushpa
Sinkar and Dr. Madhuri Hambarde
attended a workshop on Animal Tissue
Culture organized by the Life Science
Department of St. Xavier’s College.
Mr. Conrad Cabral was the coordinator for the additional credit
course on Science communication
skills. Conrad also attended
conferences at BHU, Varanasi on the
21-22nd January 2012.
He delivered the following Guest
lectures : “Bioinformatics – a
diploma course” at Sophia College,
Mumbai in January and February
2012 ; “Intracellular Trafficking:
Microtubules: the cellular tracks” and
“Molecular Phylogeny” for the Second,
Third year and Post Graduate students
of H.P.T. / R.Y.K. College, Nashik
on 13th December 2011; “Tips on
Immunology to aid clear the NET
exam” at Vaze Kelkar College, Mumbai
on the 14th September. He was the inhouse faculty for the “M.Sc. Industrial
Biotechnology and Enterprise” course
for the year 2011-2012 taking the
module on Bioinformatics.He also
helped in conducting a half day
orientation for the Non-teaching staff
of St.Xavier’s College.
Dr. Pushpa Sinkar was the coordinator of the Honour’s program
and Diploma in Forensic Science.
She attended a National Workshop
on Research Methodology conducted
by the Research Cell of Maniben
Nanavati Women’s College, on 27th
and 28th June 2011.
Dr. Madhuri Hambarde was invited as
a Judge for the Health Fair-Food Fest
2011 conducted by the Biochemistry
Department, K. J. Somaiya College
of Science and Commerce. She was
appointed as a member of the syllabus
committee for M.Sc. part I (Zoology) at
the University of Mumbai. She was also
the coordinator for UKIERI funded
innovative collaborative program
Masters in Industrial Biotechnology
and Enterprise Degree offered by
University of Bath, UK. All department
members were actively involved in the
in-house college workshops.
College committees
Dr. Smita Krishnan worked as the
convenor of the Library committee and
was on the Scholarship Committee.
Mr. Conrad Cabral, Dr. Pushpa
Sinkar and Dr. Madhuri Hambarde
were on the Malhar committee,
the TAQ committee and the staff
placement committee respectively.
Dr. Smita Krishnan
Head, Department of Zoology
“And Man created the plastic
bag and the tin and aluminum
can and the cellophane
wrapper and the paper plate,
and this was good because
Man could then take his
automobile and buy all his
food in one place and He could
save that which was good to
eat in the refrigerator and
throw away that which had
no further use. And soon the
earth was covered with plastic
bags and aluminum cans and
paper plates and disposable
bottles and there was nowhere
to sit down or walk, and Man
shook his head and cried:
"Look at this Godawful mess.”
- Art Buchwald
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