HYDERABAD: Prof. Appa Rao Podile was appointed as new vice-chancellor of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) on Monday. He will in office for the next five years.
Rao, who had served as chief warden of the university for three years from 2001 to 2004, is currently a faculty member in the university’s department of plant sciences. He has been selected from out of nearly 200 candidates who applied for the post.
Rao, who hails from Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, is an alumnus of Hindu College in Guntur and Sardar Patel University (SPU) at Anand in Gujarat. He is a gold medallist in MSc and has a Ph.D from SPU. He is also a post-doctoral fellow from the Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, where he also served as a visiting professor. So far he has guided 17 research scholars and is currently guiding nine Ph.D students.
As a senior faculty member, Rao is known for his research in the field of plant-microbe interactions in general and plant disease control using modern molecular approaches in particular. He has also been recently recognised as a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences for his research in plant sciences.
Talking to Express, Rao said he predicted his selection as VC after he had made it to the short list of three candidates. “I believe that my presentation on my plans to enhance academic performance of the university impressed the selection committee,” he explained. “For me, academics is the top priority. Administration issues are unavoidable in any university. But they can be solved with right communication and effective management,” he added.