A newsletter to the members of the Pondicherry Psychology Association

(Regd.)

(A Private Circulation only)

website: www.indianpsychology.info Email: ppa_2000@gmail.com

Vol. 7 January - December, 2008 Nos. 1- 4

Highlights...Highlights...Highlights...Highlights...Highlights...

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Man of Excellence 1

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A Report of the 10th NationalConference 3

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Psychometric EducationalServices Awards 4

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A Special Interactive Session5

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11th National Conference 6

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Annual Colloquium of theISPA- A Report7

Our sincere gratitude toOur sincere gratitude toOur sincere gratitude toOur sincere gratitude toOur sincere gratitude to

Prof. J.A.K. TareenProf. J.A.K. TareenProf. J.A.K. TareenProf. J.A.K. TareenProf. J.A.K. Tareen

Vice-Chancellor ofPondicherry Universityfor starting a newDepartment of AppliedPsychology

Man of ExcellenceMan of ExcellenceMan of ExcellenceMan of ExcellenceMan of Excellence

Pr Pr Pr Pr Pr of of of of of .....JJJJJ.A.K..A.K..A.K..A.K..A.K.TTTTTar ar ar ar ar eeneeneeneeneen

Dr. Jalees Ahmed Khan Tareen

is presently the Vice-Chancellor of Pondicherry University, Puducherry &Member of University Grants Commission, New Delhi.Prof. Tareen is a native of the Palace City of Mysore inKarnataka, holds MSc in Geology, PhD in ExperimentalMineralogy and Doctor of Science in Solid StateChemistry.A well known experimental mineralogist, adesigner of high pressure equipment for his research,he obtained his PhD from the University of Mysore andDoctor of Science from France.As a researcher, he has published several researchpapers and books besides bagging national levelawards. He possesses rich experience of having workedin the Universities in France, Japan, Scotland and inthe African countries.He served the University of Mysore for 33 years invarious capacities and later was appointed Vice-

Chancellor of Kashmir University where he had had thechallenging task of restoring the academic environmentof the militancy-stricken university which was on theverge of collapse, and bringing it back on the nationalmap.During the fifteen years of turmoil in Kashmir valley,militancy had crept into every facet of life and institutionsof Kashmir. The University of Kashmir, the only generaluniversity for six million Kashmiris was also one of thebadly affected victims for a few years. But thedeterioration which started with the militancy in theacademics and administration continued even when thecampus was freed of this.The university had literally closed its doors to theoutside world and a psychological barrier with falsethreat perceptions was erected in the minds of thegovernment and the rest of the country, presumablyfor convenience. Dr. Farooq Abdullah wanted to savethis sinking ship and thought of experimenting with aVice Chancellor brought from far south of India-Mysore.Prof. Tareen, a visionary and dynamic Vice-Chancellor entered Kashmir as a stranger from the pointof his looks, culture, language, background andlifestyle. His was an ardous task; besides getting himselfaccepted, he had to win the co-operation of the wholeacademia including students, got funds fordevelopment, face threats from both inside and outside.It was really a stupendous task for him to bring backthe Kashmir University back on rails.He accomplished this challenge in a very short spanof time and the University emerged as an ‘A’ gradeUniversity under his dynamic leadership.With hisunprecedented success at the troubled University ofKashmir as Vice Chancellor he has emerged as anexceptionally courageous and a talented administrator,who could not only work in the difficult and challengingsituations but also bring the desired results.It is a story of the skills of a scientist-turnedadministrator who not only became a darling of studentsand faculty within a short time but was called the Vice-Chancellor of the masses. It narrates the strategies heused to awaken the Kashmir University from a deepslumber, to extract the best of the existing humanresources and rekindle into them the aspirations of highgoals and confidence to achieve them.He successfully reopened the gates of the KashmirUniversity to the world of academics across the countryand the world; he feels it has contributed to the openingof Kashmir to common Indian tourists. He faced allopposing forces with valour, upholding the dignity ofthe Vice-Chancellor’s chair, and opted to leave whenhe was at the peak of his popularity.He has also served as CEO of South AsiaFoundation where he actively involved himself in variouswelfare measures for the society. He has beeninstrumental in popularizing pre-primary education inrural areas. An outstanding researcher and an ableadministrator, he has won various awards includingNational Mineral Award of Govt. of India in 1996.With the extraordinary experience in Kashmir, heassumed office as Vice-Chancellor of PondicherryUniversity in April, 2007. From day one, he has beenshowing a keen interest and involvement in the all-rounddevelopment of the University and the Union Territoryof Puducherry. In a short span of three months hestarted seven new departments: Applied Psychology,Education,Electronic Media and Mass Communication,Food Science, Library & Information Science, SocialWork, and South Asian Studies.He started a newcampus in Karaikal with three departments:Commerce,Computer Science and Management Studies.He is a target-oriented leader of the academiccommunity, applying diversified nature of approachesto develop the University so as to give quality educationto the student community. Always he touches the heartsof the people by his unstinted, unimaginable affection.He talks less and does enormous to the people. Heconsiders students as his children and staff as brothersand sisters.This is a golden period in the history of PondicherryUniversity. The Pondicherry Psychology Association joins hands with the people of Puducherry for satisfyingthe long felt needs of the public to have a Post graduatedepartment in Psychology. The first Vice-ChancellorDr. K. Venkatasubramanian dreamt and the third Vice-Chancellor Prof. V.T. Patil announced it in our inauguralfunction on 1st January 2000 to start a Psychologydepartment in the University.

My interest is the Pondicherry University should reach its height of academic excellence - J.A.K. Tareen

We proudly pronounce that the present Vice-Chancellor Prof. J.A.K. Tareen has started theDepartment of Applied Psychology to cater to the needsof the studentcommunity. TheGoverning Council ofthe PPA place arecord ofappreciation andthanks for hisventure to help thesociety by starting anew department ofApplied Psychologyin the PondicherryUniversity.

INDIAN PSYCHOLOGIST

January - December 2008

One must be a great yogi to become a good teacher - The Mother

10th National Conference on AppliedPsychology and Web World

A Report

Applied Psychology and Web World are intertwinedso as to reach the people for effective utilization. Therecent advancements in the field applied psychologyneed to be synchronized and exposit with the web world.The present contents and practices of appliedpsychology should be suitably modified by web tools soas to meet the challenges and opportunities.Researchers in the field of applied psychology andeducationists are contributing their new way of teachingby applying web resources. Therefore, the conventionalmethod of teaching and learning process should berevamped with innovative approaches by applying recentadvancements of web world in propagating appliedpsychology.The Pondicherry Psychology Association andPsychometric Educational services, Arcot were jointlyorganised the 10

National Conference on AppliedPsychology and Web World on 5th and 6th January,2008 at Puducherry. We hope that the out come of theconference will become a turning point in thedevelopment of a new approach to teacher education,which will carry in it the very best of what modern teachereducation and psychological approaches have to offer.The major objectives were:

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Exposition of various recentweb resources in Applied Psychology,

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Exposition ofexisting practice of Applied Psychology and web world,

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Exploring the possibilities of designing new curriculumin applied Psychology,

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Developing e-contentresources in applied psychology,

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Developing e-contents for applied psychological experiments andtesting,

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Developing research methodologiesinnovative models for teacher educators in recentresearch areas.To achieve the objectives described above, therewere four plenary sessions and four concurrent technicalsessions. Each of these sessions were devoted to oneof the main objectives.Chief Minister of Puducherry N. Rangasamy hasinaugurated the conference. In his inaugural addresshe said that training in psychology was necessary forschool teachers as it would help them to understandchildren and teach them better. Speaking at the 10thNational Conference on Applied Psychology and WebWorld organised by the Pondicherry PsychologyAssociation in collaboration with the PsychometricEducational Services, Arcot, he said psychology wasbeing used in hospitals, educational institutions,companies, and, advertising and marketing.Former Vice-Chancellor of Pondicherry UniversityA. Gnanam presided and in his presidential address hesaid there was a need to propagate knowledge of basicpsychology among the public.In his keynote address, B. Mukhopadhyay, Head,Department of Educational Management and AppliedPsychology, NITTTR, Chennai, said applied psychologywould be of great help to industries. Professionals coulddevelop aptitude tests for recruitment and for the existingstaff, they could develop achievement motivation tests,interest inventories and attitudinal tests.Panch Ramalingam, president of the PondicherryPsychology Association, delivered scope and objectivesof the conference. As many as 150 teachers andresearch scholars – were participating in the conference.It aimed at educating professionals on the need for usingteaching and learning resources available on the internet.Psychologist K.N. Viswanath from Chennai, who chaireda session on linking applied psychology with virtualclassroom, explained how teachers using cyber spacecould use animations, video clippings and multi mediacontent to help students understand things better.Mr. N. Rangasamy also presented PPA BestPsychologist Award to Prof.G. Rajamohan,BestEducationist Award to Sirpi M. Jayaraman, Prof. A.Gnanam Best Teacher Award to N. Gururajan, MamotaDas Best Teacher Award to Madhu Mathur from Meerut,Best book award to Sibnath Deb from Kolkata (author of

Children in Agony

),In the valedictory session, Prof. VSR Vijayakumar,Chennai presided and Former Minister for EducationShri. K. Lakshminarayanan delivered valedictoryaddress.