Pro-Chancellor's Message

I am honoured and greatly privileged to lead Graphic Era Hill University and continue the ambitious strategy of addressing the challenges and opportunities of future to benefit our communities more widely.

Since its inception in 2011, Graphic Era Hill University (GEHU) under the aegis of Graphic Era Educational Society has continued in subtle ways to pour fresh knowledge, human capital, and innovation into the engines of our society. It demands excellence and has little patience for mediocrity. In a short span GEHU has become an ensemble of a multi-layered educational system which covers all aspects of under-graduate, post-graduate, and Ph.D. education. With 19 schools of learning and 65 programms spread over three campuses of learning and research, viz. Dehradun, Bhimtal and Haldwani, our dedicated faculty nurtures brightest young minds from all over the country with smartly crafted and industry compliant course curricula using state-of-art infrastructure in a climate of possibility, and transform lives and enhance communities.

GEHU heralds the latest and newest but never allows itself to be consumed by the intellectual fads of the day. Our graduates are smart, collaborative and entrepreneurial. They use creative space of GEHU to actualize their potential. We are encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation on the campus. We are facilitating campus recruitments and connecting our students to the world. I can say with legitimate pride that the University has achieved far more than just the modest target set at the time of its inception by producing a trained human resource to serve the country in all walks of life and by contributing to the knowledge base.

I am glad to have this opportunity to serve as the Pro- Chancellor of this glorious institution.  GEHU pledges to the state, the nation and the world that our endeavours will benefit all citizens. I invite you to join and strengthen this venture.  

About Dr. J.Kumar 

Dr. J.Kumar was educated at  G.B.Pant University of Agriculture & Technology (GBPUA&T), Pantnagar, 1975-1983; M.Sc.1977, Ph.D. 1983; and was Post-doctoral Fellow, International Rice Research Institute, Philippines, 1993-1996.

He served as Junior Research Officer/Asstt. Professor (1984-1986), Senior Research Officer/Associate Professor (1986-1996), Professor (1996-2007), College of Forestry & Hill Agriculture, Hill Campus, G.B.P.U.A&T., Ranichauri, (Uttarakhand); Professor & Head, Deptt. of Plant Pathology, Pantnagar,  2007-12; Director, Centre of Advanced Faculty Training in Plant Pathology, 2007-12; Director Research on deputation (Jan-June, 2007) University of Horticulture & Forestry, Ranichauri; Dean (2011 to 2016 and 2017-2020), College of Agriculture (also selected as Director Experiment Station, GBPUAT, 2012); Registrar (2010-2012, 2014-2016 and 2020-21), and Vice-Chancellor (2016-2017), GBPUAT, Pantnagar. Besides, he held several other additional responsibilities such as, Nodal Officer, Pantnagar Centre for Plant Genetic Resources; Coordinator, Biotechnology Programme; Coordinator, International School of Agriculture; Nodal Officer, GBPUAT-French (DEFIAA) Programme, etc.

He was Visiting Scientist at IRRI, Philippines, in 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, Cornell University, USA, in 1999 and 2000 and INRA, France, 2004.

Dr. Kumar was honored with Prof. M.J. Narasinhan Academic Merit Award of Indian Phytopathological Society, 1985; Jawahar Lal Nehru Award of the ICAR, 1986; Pesticide India Award of Society of Mycology & Plant Pathology, 1987 & 2006; UTTRAKHAND RATTAN Award, 2007; Plant Pathology Leadership Award of Indian Phytopathological Society, 2012; ‘K.C.Mehta and Manoranjan Mitra Award’ of Indian Phytopathological Society, 2015; Dr. T.S.Thind Life-Time Achievement Award of Indian Society of Plant Pathologists, 2019; Life-Time Recognition  Award of Confederation of Horticulture Associations of India, 2020.

He  is a Rockefeller Foundation’s (USA) Biotechnology Career Fellow, 1998; Fellow, National Academy of Agriculture Academy (NAAS), 2015; Fellow, Confederation of Horticulture Associations of India (CHAI)-2019 and Trustee, Asian Agri-History Foundation.

Dr. Kumar served on various international and national committeees.  Notably, he served as member, International Committee on “Biotic constraints to achieve attainable harvest” of the International Society of Plant Pathology as Indian Representative. He was member, Research Advisory Committees of many ICAR institites; Chairman, Advisory Committee of the National Fund for Basic, Strategic and Frontier Application Research in Agriculture; Member and Convener, V Deans' Committee on ‘Higher Agricultural Education in India’, 2014; Member, ICAR's expert committee to work out the Minimum Standards of Higher Agricultural Education, 2014, and Member, UGC Expert Committee, 2017. He also served on Board of Studies of several universities.  He was Vice President, Indian Society of Plant Pathologists (2009-11).

Dr. Kumar served as Principal Investigator/Coordinator/ Co-Principal Investigator of 21  national and international competitive research projects (including multi-institutional and multi-faculty projects)  funded by national and international agencies such as ICAR, NATP, DBT, RKVY, HTMM, DASP, Rockefeller Foundation, etc., besides five AICRPs  of ICAR .

He  published over 120 refereed research papers/reviews in international/national journals, including a review article for Annual Review of Phytopathology, and prepared several books, compendia, monographs, lab manuals published by international and national publishers. He presented his research in various conferences/meetings/workshops in India and elsewhere in the world and chaired sessions. Dr. Kumar is associated with the development and release of FOUR varieties of small millets for Uttarakhand hills.  He has filed Nine Patents and One Patent has been granted.

He guided 25 M.Sc. and Ph.D. students in Plant Pathology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, of which several students received awards. He taught various undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Dr. Kumar is credited with establishing discipline of Plant Pathology at the Hill Campus of the University at Ranichauri and creating one of the most equipped Molecular-cum-Biocontrol and Plant Pathology laboratories besides establishing ‘state-of-art’ Biocontrol laboratory and an International School of Agriculture at GBPUAT, Pantnagar.