Sabita Pradhan is the first Vice-Chancellor of Odia University, appointed by Governor of Odisha, Professor Ganeshi Lal. Sabita Pradhan is a professor of Odia at Visva-Bharati University, Shantiniketan, stated a report by The New Indian Express.

Prof Sabita Pradhan will be the VC of Odia University for two years with effect from the date she joins or until further orders, whichever comes earlier. 

It may be noted that Sabita Pradhan is the author of seven books and two translations. She has published 132 research papers and her forte is linguistics and stylistics besides modern Odia literature.

Meeting and construction check
To zero in on the curriculum for Odia University at Satyabadi, Puri, the Department of Higher Education organised the second syllabus committee meeting. This was done under the chairmanship of former bureaucrat, Rabi Narayan Senapati.

Odia Language and Literature, Linguistics and Natural Language Processing and Regional, Tribal Language and Heritage Studies — these are the three subjects whose draft syllabus was analysed and it will be offered by the first of its kind language university.

The construction progress was reviewed by Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena and Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the Higher Education Department, Arvind Agrawal. It may be noted that 25 acres of land has been earmarked for the university at Satyabadi.  

As per sources, the state government is hoping to operationalise the university from September 5 this year.