Vice Chancellor

A SHORT PROFILE ABOUT THE VICE-CHANCELLOR

Prof. Dr. T. Arumugam assumed office as the 7th Vice Chancellor of Thiruvalluvar University, Serkkadu, Vellore on 22nd of August 2022. He has had vast teaching and research experiences putting in more than three decades at various reputed institutions. He had been in active administrative positions for about 11 years in various capacities as the Head of the Horticulture, Research Station, Kodaikanal as the Dean of Imayam Institute of Agriculture and Technology, Thuraiyur, as the Head of the Department of Vegetable Crops at HC&RI, TNAU, Coimbatore, as the Dean of the Horticulture College & Research Institute, Periyakulam in Theni District and recently as the Professor and Head, Department of Horticulture, Agricultural College & Research Institute, Killikulam in Tuticorin district.
Prof. Dr. T. Arumugam has pursued his Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and Doctoral Degree Programmes in Horticulture besides completing a Diploma in Export Management. He has also undergone higher training in Post-Harvest Technology at IARI, New Delhi, and UC Davis, California, USA as FAO Fellow. He has revamped the syllabi of Horticultural Sciences akin to skill development and Self-motivation during his tenure as the Chairmanship of the board of studies. He has successfully guided and produced 12 MSc Horticulture, and 8 Ph.D. Scholars, and 2 UGC Post-Doctoral Fellows. Many of his students and scholars are shining as administrators, Scientists, and successful entrepreneurs across the world.

Prof. Dr. T. Arumugam has published 22 books with an ISBN in the national leading publishing companies. A total number of 291 research articles have been published in peer-reviewed journals of National and International repute. He has successfully accomplished 14 major funded projects to the tune of 1556.61 Lakhs from various funded agencies. He has successfully organized 2 International Conference,1 National Conference, 1 ICAR Short course, 63 workshops, and training programs.

RESEARCH

As an acclaimed researcher, he had involved the release of 7 vegetables and 4 fruit crop varieties besides standardizing fifteen Agro-Technologies viz, Year-round production of Chrysanthemum, Identification of the best rootstock for cut roses, wax coating for shelf-life extension in banana, media for anthurium and orchids, Technology for polyhouse cultivation of tomato, capsicum, rose, carnation and chrysanthemum, micropropagation protocol for important medicinal and aromatic plants like rosemary, thyme, feverfew and sarpaganda. Because of his outstanding innovative contribution to the field of Horticulture, different Organizations & Research institutes signed MOUs with the institutions. He has also prepared and submitted policy documents to the Tamil Nadu state government for effective sustainable vegetation. He has functioned as Nodal Officer of EDII- Periyakulam Horti Business Incubation Forum (PHBIF) and he has successfully organized 51 training programs that produced 6600 entrepreneurs.

EXTENSION

Prof. Dr. T. Arumugam is a committed extension worker as proven through the commercial production and popularization of brinjal grafts which are having high yield and resistance against soil-borne diseases. He has evolved a strategy for the amelioration of the socio-economic condition of the farmers through the trainings on plantation of guava (Madurai and Ramnad districts – Tamil Nadu Precision Farming Project-TNPFP) and the precision farming technology for vegetable crops (Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts), Tamil Nadu. Now, this technology is being adopted in more than 60,000 hectares in Tamil Nadu. The horticultural technologies developed by him in many crops are considered to be the remarkable achievements in the field of Horticulture technology.

INSTITUTION BUILDING

Through his strenuous efforts, Prof. T. Arumugam has created a State-of-the-art laboratory and other infra-structural facilities such as Molecular Biology and Post-harvest laboratory, a Vertical farming unit, an Automatic portray filling and seeding machine. The conception and development of the botanical garden, students’ amenity center, modern library, world-class indoor stadium, language, and audiovisual laboratory, and the development of guava and minor fruits germplasm at Periyakulam mark the headway of the institute on par with the International Standards. As committed administrator, he has developed the infrastructure of the campus worth Rs. 2714 Lakhs.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the realms of teaching, research, and extension activities, many world organizations and institutions honoured Prof. Dr. T. Arumugam with the coveted Awards and Prizes.