Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), Katrais now member of a growing global network of more than 1500 educational institutions, businesses and organizations dedicated to advancing management education worldwide- AACSB International, which connects educators, students, and business to achieve a common goal: to create the next generation of great leaders. AACSB provides quality assurance, business education intelligence, and professional development services to over 1,600 member organizations and more than 800 accredited business schools worldwide.

AACSB members represent over 40,000 faculty and 1,000,000 students majoring in business and accounting, at school around the world.

The membership has been awarded to School of Business, SMVDU

SMVDU Katra, 20^thAug,18: A condolence meeting was held at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), Katra at 04.30 am today in the Central Courtyard for Sh. Jai Karan, Workshop Operator who untimely passed away on 17 August 2018 in a tragic road accident. Mr. Jai Karan was among one of the oldest staff members of SMVD University, having joined in January 2008. Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Dr. Sanjeev Jain; Registrar, Prof. V. K. Bhat, Deans and HoDs, faculty members and staff, students and research scholars offered their condolence to the departed soul and observed two-minutes silence. Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor announced that one family member of late Mr. Jai Karan will be provided job, according to qualification. Further, the SMVDU administration is also looking forward to making a provision of providing free education to two daughters of the deceased staff member in SMVDU once they grow up, including other financial relief.

SMVDU Katra, 28^thAug,18. The ‘Hill Thespian’ theatre group of the cultural society, Jammu performed a Dogri play, namely ‘Sanskar’ in Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University’s Matrika Auditorium on 27 August 2018. The play falls under the black comedy genre, featuring an ancient Dogri ritual that isperformed by ladies, named as 'marasn', similar to the popular Bollywood film, Rudali, who are specially called to sing 'loaniyan', a song in which the qualities of the person who died remembers and people mourns. The play was actually a satire, highlighting how materialistic tone overpowered emotions, and even before the cremation began many disputes cropped up between the grandsons. Notably, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University is famous for promoting indigenous languages & culture of Jammu & Kashmir region. The play was thoroughly enjoyed by the faculty and staff members, including their family, and students; however, the satiric tone of the play succeeded to penetrate the audience psyche and left them thoughtful.

SMVDU Katra, 19^thAug, 18. Mr. Roy Keshav Sharma, a 3^rd year student of B.Tech, Computer Science Engineering, studying at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), Katra has been selected for the Young Hero Award by the prestigious Youth Service America (YSA). The American agency reported that they are impressed by Mr. Roy’s passion for empowering youth as he has become an active agent in making positive community change. Further, the YSA will highlight the profile of Mr. Roy Keshavas an everyday young hero in the national service briefing. Additionally, they will showcase his profile on social networking outlets and their blog. The YSA is full of praise for Mr. Roy Keshav, emphasizing his commendable hard work and achievements. Further, the SMVDU student will receive a certificate, and a prize money of $250 for the community service. The student has dedicated this award to SMVDU and held the guidance of his teachers responsible for his achievement.  

SMVDU Katra,27^thAugust, 18: World Sanskrit Day was celebrated at the School of Philosophy & Culture today. The event was conducted and coordinated by Dr. Anil Tewari, Head, School of Philosophy & Culture. There were lectures and discussions during the event in which the faculty and research scholars of School of Philosophy & Culture and School of Languages and Literature took active participation. The event begun with the invoking of Goddess Saraswati, the god of knowledge and learning and was followed by the introductory lecture By Dr. Tewari. He deliberated upon the importance and significance of the day and talked about how it has contributed in shaping cultures across the globe. It was followed by another lecture given by Dr. Amitabh VikramDwivedi, Head of School of Languages and Literature, who came across a linguistic study of Sanskrit and how it connects with most of the Indo-Aryan & Indo-European languages. The event was concluded on a positive note to take up an initiative to organize workshops and courses on Sanskrit to develop and understanding and awareness among the students regarding the language.

SMVDU Katra, 18 Aug, ’18: The School of Languages & Literature, a leading and research oriented department of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, conducted its Doctoral Student Research Committee (DSRC) meeting on 18 August 2018 for the current semester. Prof. Nagendra Kumar of IIT, Roorkee was present as the external expert member, including supervisors, co-supervisors and in-house faculty members. The scholars of the school gave a power point presentation, and informed the DSRC members about their progress for the last semester of the academic year 2017-18 i.e. January to July, 2018. Their presentations included discussions about in-house achievements, seminars/conferences/workshops attended, paper presentations, publications, NPTEL as well as GIAN courses. Prof. Kumar appreciated the efforts of the scholars and remarked that they are very active and up-to-date in their research areas. He further commented that Dr. Amitabh V Dwivedi, Head of the School, along with other faculty members,has a very positive influence upon the students. Further, Prof. Kumar believed that the scholars in their guidance have a bright and secured future. Dr. Dwivedi, the Chairperson of the DSRC, presented a vote of thanks to Prof. Nagendra Kumar for sparing his valuable time.

SMVDU Katra, 27^thAug, 18. Under expert lecture series, School of Languages & Literature at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University organised a lecture on ‘Tess of the d'Urbervilles’ today by Dr. Aksa Rao, an eminent teacher at GDC, Bishnah, University of Jammu. Considering that, good teaching is a key influence on student learning, this is a third lecture under this series. Previously, senior Prof. K. B. Razdan of University of Jammu and Prof. DeepshikhaKotwalOf CU, Jammu had delivered their lectures. Dr. Rao highlighted that major themes and phases of this19th century Hardy's fictional masterpiece in an interactive session. Dr. Ranbir Kaur, convener of the event, reported that students were highly motivated and felt privileged for getting such opportunities at SMVDU. The lecture was attended by faculty members, students, and research scholars. Dr. Amitabh V. Dwivedi, Head of the School and Coordinator of the event presented the vote of thanks.

SMVDU Katra, 16^thAug,18. Mr. Deepak Sharma, a staff member of the School of Computer Science and Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra has been declared qualified for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Electrical Engineering by National Institute of Technology, (NIT) Srinagar (J&K). He worked on the research topic, titled “Performance Investigation of a Three-Phase Improved Power Quality Converter for Supply side Perturbations” under the supervision of Dr. A. H. Bhat and Prof. Aijaz Ahmed, Department of Electrical Engineering, NIT, Srinagar. Mr. Sharma has also authored two books in Computer Science and Engineering, and he has presented and published papers in prestigious conferences and journals respectively. Mr. Sharma thanked the university for encouraging him to excel and the authorities for their kind support and cooperation.

SMVDU Katra, 25^thAug,18. Emeritus Prof. M. V. Deshpande of AcSIR-CSIR who is also an adjunct faculty of School of Biotechnology at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University addressed and interacted with faculty, students & scholars during three-day guest lecture series on ‘Opportunities in Biotechnology: Research and Development to Entrepreneurship’ during 23-25 August 2018. The lecture generated a very healthy interaction between the expert professor and participants present, as reported by Prof. V. Verma and Dr. Sharda, the coordinators of the event. The purpose of organising this lecture series was to spread an awareness amongst the B. Tech., M. Sc. students and research scholars of Biotechnology about the the scope of Biotechnology in developing commercial ventures such as start-ups, innovation centers, entrepreneurships, etc. Notably, School of Biotechnology at SMVDU is a leading research oriented department where faculty members regularly publish quality research in top-notch journals, including NATURE. Dr. Sanjeev Jain, VC, SMVDU congratulated the school with a message that such events should be organised often.

SMVDU Katra, 10 August 2018. Following the Rig Vedic hymn stating ‘let the knowledge come from all directions’, the School of Physics at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, organised two expert talks by IIT professors, namely Prof. P. C. Deshmukh and Prof. Prabhakar Singh of IIT, Tirupati & IIT, BHU respectively. Prof. Deshmukh, in his insightful talk, on “Time and Time Delay, in Atomic Dynamics” discussed the Wigner-Eisenbud-Smith (WES) measure of time delay in atomic dynamics to estimate the time-delay in the atomic photoelectric effect, whereas Prof. Prabhakar Singh of IIT-BHU delivered an interactive lecture on “Dynamics of Charge Particles in Crystalline and Amorphous Materials”. Further, the distinguished professors also interacted with students, research scholars, and faculty members, and they also motivated them to achieve higher goals. Dr. Yugal Khajuria and Dr. Vivek K. Singh, the organisers of the event, thanked the professors for their time and words of wisdom. Prof. Sharma, Head, School of Physics, presented a vote of thanks to the professors.

SMVDU Katra, 23^rdAugust 2018. With an aim to promote entrepreneurial attitude in Jammu & Kashmir, the Technology Business Incubation Centre (TBIC), popularly known for its committed work 24x7, and labelled as an ambassador of change, at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra organised one day seminar on 23^rdAugust 2018 on ‘Importance of International Property Rights’. Many eminent speakers and entrepreneurs, such sh. Rakesh Wazir, President Hotel & Restaurant Association; Dr H P Kumar, Advisor, PHDCCI and Former Chairman & Managing Director, NSIC; Sh. Sukhdeep Singh Assistant Controller of Patents and Designs, Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks. Govt Of India; Mr. Sandeep Aggarwal & Dr. Mandira Roy, Directors Adastra IP presented their views on intellectual property and procedures, as reported by Dr. Swarkar Sharma, CEO, TBIC, SMVDU. Dr. Sanjeev Jain, Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU congratulated the TBIC team for the event, and suggested that such seminars should be organised often. Ms. Kanchan Zutshi, Secretary, Committee on MSME, PHD Chamber presented the vote of thanks to the speakers.

SMVDU Katra, 10^thAugust,18. Dr. Balbir Singh, Associate Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), Katra was awarded fellow membership of Institution of Engineers, India (IEI), Kolkata, which is the largest Indian multi-disciplinary professional body of engineers. Earlier, Dr. Singh had served the Indian Air Force (IAF) for sixteen years, prior to joining the SMVDU in 2001, and he specialised in advanced machining, quality control and maintenance. Notably, Dr. Singh had also received training for Six Sigma Green Belt and ZED Master Trainer. Being quite active in teaching and research activities, Dr. Singh regularly involves himself in promoting industry-academia relation, besides working on productivity enhancement based projects. Dr. Singh gave the credit for this achievement to Indian Air Force (IAF) and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) for providing him a learning platform to excel in all spheres of life.

SMVDU Katra, 22^ndAug,18. Mr. Sandeep Kumar, a PhD student of the School of Physics at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra defended his doctoral dissertation in a committee chaired by Dr. Sanjeev Jain, Honourable Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU. The oral defence of Mr. Sandeep’s thesis, titled ‘Growth and Characterisation of Transition Metal Doped Europium Oxide Thin Films’ was conducted on 21 August 2018 at 11.30 am in the university committee room, comprising external examiner Prof. Pratima Sen of Devi Ahalya University, Indore; Dean &HoD of the School of Physics; and the supervisor, Dr. Ram Prakash as approved by the Vice Chancellor. A power-point presentation followed up with questions raised by the committee members defended by the PhD candidate during his defence. Previously, Mr. Sandeep Kumar’s research was carried out at UGC DAE CSR and RRCAT, Indore under collaborative research scheme. Notably, the bright candidate has published many research papers in international SCI & SCOPUS indexed journals, and the candidate also received many awards in national conferences for his poster presentations. Mr. Sandeep Kumar thanked the committee members, particularly Dr. Sanjeev Jain, honourable Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU for sparing his time and for his kind comments.

SMVDU-Katra, 7^th August, 2018 Mr. Roy Keshav Sharma, a 3rd year student of B.Tech CSE, has been selected for JagritiYatra, supported by Schneider Electric Foundation. He has also been rewarded with a sponsorship for the same. Notably, JagritiYatra is an annual train journey that takes highly motivated young Indians and a few young people from outside India between the ages of 20 and 27, on a 15- or 18-day national odyssey. A specially hired 18 wagon train takes 450 young men and women (a few of them are student entrepreneurs, a few more are rural entrepreneurs) competitively selected out of a pool of about 40,000 applications, to meet with and learn from exceptional entrepreneurs who are developing innovative solutions to India's challenges. Many of them are unsung heroes, and the Yatra encourages the young to unleash the hero within them. It has been executed successfully for the past ten years in a row, and has established itself as a national calendar event that is a 'must go' for the young people. Mr. Roy Keshav is very excited and looking forward to seeing the new horizons.

SMVDU Katra, 21^stAugust,18. The School of Physics at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) Katra, organised today an expert lecture by Prof. P. K. Sen on the topic titled, ‘Lasers and Semiconductor Nanaphotonics’. Prof. Sen, HoD, Applied Physics at SGSITS, Indore is an eminent academician who has more than 150 published research papers in his credit. Furthermore, the professor has guided twenty two PhD candidates in various fields of Physics. During the talk, Prof. Sen discussed the aspects of the fabrication and application of nanostructures and devices that help to understand or harness and utilise the behaviour of light. The wise physicist has delivered more than 50 invited talks across and outside India on topics, such as Laser Physics, Nonlinear Optics, Semiconductor Nano-Technology, and alike. The interactive talk was attended by the faculty members and research students. Prof. A. K. Sharma, HoD, Physics at SMVDU presented a vote of thanks to Prof. Sen for sparing the valuable time and for the words of wisdom.