Vice-Chancellor Somak Raychaudhary Steps Down; Search Committee for Successor Constituted

On Thursday, 5th March, the Chancellor's Office notified the Ashoka community about Professor Somak Raychaudhary’s decision to step down as Vice Chancellor. In their email, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees Pramath Raj Sinha and Chancellor Rudrangshu Mukherjee wrote that following Professor Raychaudhary’s decision, The Governing Body of Ashoka University has formally constituted a Search Committee to look for a successor. The email wrote that while Raychuadhary chose not to continue as Vice Chancellor for a second term, he would remain “associated with Ashoka as a scientist and professor”.

The following members will serve as members of the committee:  Malabika Sarkar, former Vice Chancellor of Ashoka University, Geeta Goel, former Managing Director Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, India, K. Vijay Raghavan, Chairperson Science Advisory Council, Govind Iyer, Independent Director, Infosys, and Pramath Raj Sinha. The newly announced committee has no professors involved in the search, in contrast to the previous Vice Chancellor Search Committee, which comprised 15 members and included academics such as Professors Ashwini Deshpande, Gautam Menon, Srinath Raghavan and now Chancellor Rudrangshu Mukherjee. 

The email further mentioned that the committee's evaluation and search process is expected to conclude by the end of June 2026. Post this, two candidates will be recommended to the Chancellor who is the final authority in charge of appointing a new Vice Chancellor. 

Professor Somak Raychaudhury was appointed as the Vice Chancellor on 10th November 2022. The email formally announcing his resignation recognized “his dedicated leadership and service to Ashoka University” and his commitment towards placing the university “firmly on the path of development and evolution.” Under Raychaudhary’s tenure, Ashoka inaugurated the Trivedi School of Biosciences, opened 500 new merit and need based scholarships across its undergraduate programmes and signed Memoranda of Understanding with the University of Pennsylvania and the India Meteorological Department. His term also witnessed various student protests, including the Caste Census protest in Spring ‘24, Anti-Surveillance Protests in Spring ‘25 and Housekeeping Workers Protest in Monsoon ‘25. 

[Edited by Fatema Tambawalla and Somansh Sarangi]