History
Department of English was established in 1965 and initially conducted M.A. (English) classes under the Headship of Dr. M.N. Wankhade at Milind College of Arts, Aurangabad. The Department of English has completed around six decades of dedicated service to the cause of teaching and research in English language and literature. Dr. D V.K. Raghavacharyulu the first official Head of the Department was an eminent scholar and a noble human being. It was because of his academic leadership that scholars from different parts of the country were attracted to join the faculty. Dr. D.V.K. Raghavarcharyulu left for Nagarjuna University in 1968 and Dr. G.S. Amur took over as the Head. An eminent scholar in Shakespeare Studies and Critical Theory, Dr. Amur helped the Department gain stability and most of the faculty positions were filled in during his tenure. Both Dr. D.V.K. Raghavacharyulu and Dr. Amur were responsible for the introduction of new courses and the up gradation of the post-graduate courses in the Department.Whereby American Literature, Translation Studies at the Masters and Psychoanalysis, Cultural Studies etc. at the pre-doctoral courses like M. Phil. were introduced. It was during Dr. Amur’s tenure that the Department had a full-fledged faculty comprising ten members.
Dr. Amur retired from the University service in 1985 and Dr. V.R.N. Prasad took over as the Head and continued in the office until 1991, the principle of the rotation of headship was introduced in the year 1991-92 and Mr. N.K. Nihalani, Dr. P.S. Deshpande, Mr. R.S. Kimbahune, Dr. A G Khan, Dr. Mabel Fernandes and Dr. K.G. Ranveer acted as heads for a tenure of two years each.
The Department had provisionally been offering traditional courses in English Language and Literature, focusing primarily on the study of mainstream British Literature. The focus started shifting in the late 1970s with the introduction of American Literature, Comparative Literature, Indian Writing in English, Translation Studies, and Creative Writing, etc. During the last two decades the Department has emerged as a major centre for post-graduate studies in all the recent disciplines and discourses in language, literature and critical theory. Dr. Amur and Dr. Prasad had brought the department into the academic limelight within the state and outside. Dr. D.V.K. Raghavacharyulu, Dr. G.S. Amur. Dr .V. R. N. Prasad and Dr. KashinathRanveer had been to the United States on the Fulbright programme. Dr. A.G. Khan has also served as a member of the Maharashtra State Urdu Akademy for two consecutive terms in the 1990s.Dr. A. G. Khan was a Shastri Indo-Canadian fellow in 1988 and the same year he was awarded the International visitor programme by the USEFI. He went to the University of Louisville in 2001 on a Fulbright Summer Programme. The faculty in the Department had been actively involved in literary and cultural activities both in English and other Indian languages such as Marathi, Hindi and Urdu. Dr. BhalchandraNemade, who was on the faculty, is a well-known novelist and critic in Marathi. He is a recipient of the SahityaAkademy award and now a member of the SahityaAkademy. He has been awarded with the Prestigious Dnyanpeeth Prize for his novel in 2015. Dr. K.R. Shirwadkar is a committed critic in Marathi and has written a number of books on Contemporary English and Marathi Literature and was also a faculty. The late Mr. V.V. Yardi was our quintessential language man. He is known for his work in English Language Teaching and especially loved by the students’ community for his sense of repartee and humour. It was because of the efforts of the late Mr. V.V Yardi and Mr. N.K. Nihalani that the Department could successfully run a Post-graduate diploma in the teaching of English as well as a Certificate Course in Spoken English. Shri P.K. Nihalani another authority on English Language Teaching and spoken English was also on the faculty of the Department for a brief period.
Mr. R.S. Kimbahune was actively associated with literary and cultural activities both in English and Marathi. He was editor of Pratisthan, an organ of the Marathwada SahityaParishad. Dr. Mabel Fernandes was an international scholar of British poetry. She initiated a new paper for students titled Literature and science. She worked as director Foreign Student Cell and chairperson of Vishakha cell of the university. Dr. KashinathRanveer, a specialist in Afro-American Studies edited/published a quarterly, The Downtrodden Indiain English. He has worked as Director, Pre-IAS Coaching Centre of the University.Dr. Hameed Khan a well-known authority on American Literature and Critic of Urdu Literature also served in the Dept. From December, 2005 to 2012. He was a Fulbright scholar and edits an international journal Writing Today. He was UGC’s Maulana Azad Chair Professor. Prof. UttamAbhore was well known writer and headed the department during 2018-2020.
Currently Dr. Mustajeeb Khan is heading the Department and Dr. G. M. Patil, Dr. M. S. Pathan, Dr. AnandUbale are working in the Department. Most of the senior members of the faculty in the Department had visited all the major Universities of the State. Some are also associated with the Boards of University, Teaching and Research, and the Research and Recognition Committees. They are actively associated with all the academic programmes- Refresher Courses, Orientation courses, Seminars, Extension lectures and Workshops conducted by the Universities in the State of Maharashtra and outside The M.Phil, programme was introduced in 1979 with limited number of seats. Quite a few in-service teachers from the region have benefited from this course and have obtained their M.Phil, degrees.
In 1980 the Department installed a language laboratory with a capacity of ten booths. Over the years the Department has acquired a wide variety of language lessons, cassettes, video tapes and such other audio visual aids necessary for imparting instruction. We have a rich collection of records DVDs such as Shakespeare’s dramas and films based on texts. Poetry recitations of reputed English and American Poets and men of letters. We have advanced equipments like Tape-recorder and The language lab is shifted to CFARATS. We have TV. V.C.R. Microphones in the Department. Conference System, and LCD Projector, LED T.V., DVD player, Computers with Internet for conducting seminars and conferences. To encourage students’ participation in academic as well as extra-curricular activities fortnightly students’ seminar is conducted. The students also edit and publish wall papers. The Department provides regular counseling facilities. The Department also has a small library of its own raised out of student’s aid fund.