The Two Days State Level Conference on Recent Trends in English Studies and Research was organized at Kaveri College of Arts, Science and Commerce on 29th and 30th August 2016. The Conference was organized by the Department of English under the Quality Improvement Program of SPPU. The Conference was inaugurated by Dr. Ashok Thorat, Founder-Director, Indian Institute of Advanced studies in English, Pune. Mr. Kushal Hegde, President, Kannada Sangha, Mrs. Malati Kalmadi, Secretary, Kannada Sangha, Mr. B. B. Rao, Treasurer, Kannada Sangha and Ms. Radhika Sharma, Trustee, Kannada Sangha, graced the occasion. Dr. Shirish Sahasrabuddhe, Director, ELTIS & SSFIL, Dr. S.B. Kharosekar, Principal, Kaveri College, Mrs. Suchismita Mohanty, Vice-Principal, Kaveri College and Dr. Muckta Karmarkar, Convener were also present on the occasion.
Dr. Kharosekar in his welcome speech informed the audience about the stupendous growth of Kaveri College over the period of time. He congratulated the Arts Department for conducting a State Level Conference in a short span of time. In his inaugural speech, Dr. Ashok Thorat said that incorporating digital technology in Humanities studies is a need of the hour. He said digital media has transformed the reader and the author to a great extent. Dr. Muktaja Mathkari, Principal, M.E.S’ Abasaheb Garware College, conducted the first plenary session and her topic was Rethinking Feminism. She asserted that Western feminism is different from Indian Feminism and emphasized that it’s high time women start voicing their own problems and begin the process of becoming a whole human being. She attempted to contextualize women in her speech. Dr. Sonal Kulkarni Joshi, Professor, Deccan College, conducted the second plenary session and her topic was Discourse Perspectives on Language. She talked about the types of Discourses and then elaborated upon Cohesion and coherence of Discourse.
Dr. Chindhade, Retired Principal of MU College, Pimpri, in an insightful address spoke about the inevitability of change and the human struggle to be in the race with that change by embracing digital humanities. Professors and Ph.D. scholars from Pune, Nashik, Amaravati, Ahmednagar, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nigdi, Nanded and Kolhapur presented their papers on various topics the Conference.
The two days conference ended with the distribution of certificates to all participants at the hands of Dr. S.B. Khaorsekar, Principal, Kaveri College in the presence of Dr. Ashok Joshi, Retd. HoD, English, Goa University. Dr. Muckta Karmarkar, Convener and HOD of English, gave a review of the Conference and also proposed vote of thanks. Ms. Priya Deshmukh and Ms. Sonali Joshi compeered the program.
