Ethiraj College for Women

Ethiraj College for Women is an arts and science college for women in Chennai, India, managed by the Ethiraj College Trust. It was founded in 1948 by the barrister V. L. Ethiraj of Vellore.

History

Ethiraj College for Women is an autonomous college situated in the heart of the city of Chennai with 9 acres of campus area.

The formative years witnessed a strong foundation through introduction of undergraduate courses in Economics, Botany, Chemistry, History, Zoology and English Literature along with the infrastructural facilities, resulting in the construction of the Science Block, Hostel, Open Air Theatre and the Old Library Block. The landmark development of this decade was the auditorium, which to this day remains the pride of the college. The decade of 1968–1978 saw the growth of the college with the introduction of Commerce, Mathematics and Physics at the UG level and a number of PG courses and the construction of PG block.

A significant development in the college was the introduction of evening college in 1981. The thrust was on research with introduction of M.Phil and Ph.D. programmes. The addition of the Annexe Campus of 59 grounds augured the new direction in the growth of the College. 1990-2000 saw a steady growth with the introduction job-oriented self-funded UG courses like Corporate Secretaryship, B.Com (Bank Management), BBA (Business Administration), B.Sc. Biochemistry, B.Sc. Microbiology and M.Sc. Plant Biology & Plant Bio-technology and the introduction of post-graduate AICTE approved courses MBA and MCA, which was an important milestone in the growth of the college. The construction of New Science Block and dormitories in the hostel marked the new phase of development.

The beginning of the next decade witnessed the Day College becoming autonomous and the momentous growth of the College in its infrastructure: the N & D block, COE block, New Library, New hostel, Business Studies and Information Technology Block, all adding up to 2,66,000 Sqft. Besides these, the College has a Language Lab, Instrumentation Centre, Online access to the holdings in the Library, Internet Centre and Computer Labs. The College entered the global arena by signing an MOU with British Council for teaching Business English Certificate and First Certificate in English.

The college has continuously evolved with times to suit the changing scenario. Botany was converted into Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology, one section of History into Tourism and Travel Management, two sections of Zoology into Advanced Zoology and Biotechnology. In the self-financing stream, Economics into Business Economics, one section of English to English and Communication Skills. At the PG level a course in Human Rights and Duties Education was introduced during 2002. New courses namely, B.Sc. Clinical Nutrition, M.Sc. Physics, M.Sc. Foods & Nutrition were also introduced from 2005 in the self-finance stream. In 2006 courses namely B.sc. Visual Communication, M.Sc. Biochemistry & M.Sc. Microbiology were introduced.

Chairmen

* V. L. Ethiraj (1948–60)
* V. T. Rangaswami (1960–72)
* N. Mahalingam (1972–80)
* Justice S. Natarajan (1980–98)
* Justice S. Jagadeesan (1998-2008)
* A. M. Swaminathan, IAS (Retd.) (2008–13)
* V. M. Muralidharan (2013–19)
* Chandra Devi Thanikachalam (2019–22)
* V. M. Muralidharan (2022–present)

Principals

* Subur Parthasarathy (1948–49, 1950–52)
* Mona Hensman (1953–60)
* Evangeline Matthew (1960–76)
* K. Vasanthi Devi (1976–84)
* N. A. Qadir (1984–85)
* Keser Chander (1985–88)
* Yasodha Shanmugasundaram (1988–94)
* Indhrani Sridharan (1994-2005)
* M. Thavamani (2005–11)
* Jothi Kumaravel (2011–14)
* A. Nirmala (2014–18)
* S. Kothai (2019–22)

Notable alumni

*Trisha Krishnan, actress
*Aishwarya Rajesh, actress
*Chandini Tamilarasan, actress
* Sreethu Nair, Actress
*Dhivyadharshini, TV host
* Dhivya Suryadevara, economist, former CFO of both the General Motors, and Stripe.
* Dipika Pallikal, Indian squash player
*Jayanthi Natarajan, politician
*Joshna Chinappa, Indian squash player
*Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, politician and Thoothukudi Constituency Member of Parliament (LS)
*Latha Rajinikanth, film producer and singer
* Leesha Eclairs, TV actress
*Madhumila, TV actress
*Meenakshi Chitharanjan, Indian classical dancer and choreographer
* Molly Easo Smith, Indian-American professor
* Padma Subrahmanyam, Indian classical dancer and musician
*Preetha Krishna, businesswoman
*Sudha Ragunathan, singer
*Sudha Shah, former Indian cricketer and national coach
*Sujata Sridhar, former Indian cricketer
* Sriya Reddy, actress
*Shvetha Jaishankar, model, entrepreneur, author, beauty pageant title holder
*Tamilisai Soundararajan, doctor, politician, and the Governor of Telangana
* Thamizhachi Thangapandian, South Chennai Constituency Member of Parliament (LS)
* J. Vijaya, India's first woman herpetologist
*Srinisha Jayaseelan, singer
*Priyanka Deshpande, television anchor and actress
* Devaki Vijayaraman, television cook and the winner of ''MasterChef India – Tamil (season 1)''
* Roshini Haripriyan, television actress
* Vibha Batra, author, poet, adperson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibha_Batra

References

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External links

Official website

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Women's universities and colleges in Chennai
Educational institutions established in 1948
1948 establishments in India
Colleges affiliated to University of Madras
Universities and colleges in Chennai