Bhubaneswar: Sachidananda Mohanty, former vice-chancellor of Central University of Odisha (CUO) and a member of the University Grants Commission (UGC), died on Tuesday at the age of 70. He served as CUO vice-chancellor from Aug 2015 to Feb 2019. Mohanty was appointed member of the UGC in April 2024 for a three-year term.An eminent scholar of English literature, Mohanty was also a professor and head of the department of English at the University of Hyderabad. His distinguished academic career spanning over three decades included serving as Sri Aurobindo Chair Professor at Panjab University and National Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. He was also a governing board member of the Auroville Foundation.Sambalpur MP and former Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan condoled his death, describing him as a distinguished scholar whose contributions to literature, cultural history and the humanities enriched India’s intellectual landscape. Pradhan also praised Mohanty’s efforts to bring Odisha’s literary and cultural heritage to wider recognition.
