Department of Mathematics

The Department of Mathematics was established in 1923. Only two faculty namely Prof. P. Dhanam, (later to become a Jesuit and return to the Department) and Prof. S. Mahadeva Iyer worked in the Department. In 1933, Prof. A. Santiago joined the department. At the age of 35 Prof. Mahadeva Iyer passed away and his place was taken by Prof. P. Sudalaimuthu, an alumnus of St. Xavier's College. Prof. S. Mudiappan, another alumnus also joined the Department in 1946.

Prof. A. Santiago was the first layman to occupy the position of HOD. The number of students swelled with the introduction of P.U.C. in 1956, and so also the intake of staff. When Prof. Santiago retired, Prof. Sudalaimuthu was promoted in his place. However, due to his ill health, he voluntarily retired in 1969 and Prof. John Louis was appointed in the vacancy. Prof. Maria Arul Inbaraj was appointed as lecturer in 1968.

In 1970, post graduate course in Mathematics was started. In 1986, M.Phil in Mathematics was started. Dr.K. Chandrasekara Rao was appointed as Head of the PG Department. He was succeeded by Prof. John Louis. Rev. Fr. A. Michael S.J. served the Department for a couple of years. Rev. Fr. S.M. Felix S.J. also taught Mathematics for nine years. Prof.John Louis retired with Ph.D Degree in 1989. He was succeeded by Prof.Maria Arul Inbaraj M.Sc., M.Phil, as the Head. He retired in 2003. He was succeeded by Prof. Liberty V.Rayan as Head.

The Department was upgraded as a Research centre in 2003.The Research Department is actively engaged in research and producing Ph.Ds. Prof. Liberty V.Rayan retired in May 2008. He was succeeded by Dr.A.P. Santhakumaran in June 2008. Dr. A.P. Santhakumaran retired in May 2012 and he was succeeded by Dr. S. Athisayanathan in June 2012. Dr. S. Athisayanathan shouldered the responsibility of Head of the Department for five years from June 2012 to May 2017. From June 2017 to May 2022, Dr. S. Arul Raj was HOD and completed his term as HOD at the end of the academic year 2021-22. In the academic year 2022-23, Dr. A. Lourdusamy shouldered the responsibility of HOD. Dr. A. Lourdusamy retired in May 2023, Dr. Y. Therese Sunitha Mary was appointed as the Head of the Department from June 2023.

In June 2012, B.Sc. Mathematics was started as a self-financed course (shift II) . Dr. A. Anto Kinsley was the Coordinator of Shift II from June 2012 to May 2015. and Rev. Dr. Arul Ravi was the Coordinator of shift II Mathematics Department till May 2016. Rev. Dr. A.Antonysamy S.J. was the Coordinator of shift II Mathematics Department from June 2016 to May 2019. In June 2017, M.Sc. Mathematics in shift II was started. From June 2019 to May 2020, Dr. J.M. Prabhakar was the Coordinator of shift II Mathematics Department. Dr.S. Sethu Ramalingam has been the Coordinator of shift II Mathematics Department since 2020.

The Department has at present 20 committed faculty members. The staff members of the Department have served as members of Board of Studies for Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli and the affiliated Colleges. They also served as members of organizing committee of various Conferences of International and National level. Our Faculty members also served as Reviewers of reputed Journals and members of Editorial Board of various Research Journals.

Research Activities:

The contributions of the Department in research is enormous. The Department has a passion for creating research articles with new results and an intense desire for innovation through research collaboration. More than 350 research articles we are published by our faculty during the years 2012-2023. Most of the articles we are published by Web of Science, Scopus and UGC Care journals with impact factor. Our Department has produced 28 Ph.Ds since 2003 and 22 scholars are doing Ph.D under the guidance of our faculty members. There are 6 Research Supervisors and the research areas cover Operations Research, Graph Theory, Functional Analysis, Algebra, Algebraic Graph Theory Algorithmic Graph Theory and Topology.

Mathematics Association arranges a series of lectures every year with experienced academicians outside class hours for the benefit of students. MATH FEST is conducted once in a year by the Department of Mathematics. Every year the Association also conducts a State level Quiz for Post Graduate students. The Department of Mathematics has been conducting and organizing Quiz competitions for students of our College as well as to the students of various other College over the past 38 years and it has been one of the successful and effective practices deserve special recognition.

The Department is actively engaged in organizing Conferences, Seminars, Workshops and Endowment Lectures every year which paves way for the Department to host a good number of renowned Mathematicians in various fields of Mathematics and thereby hone the mathematical skills of the students. The Department conducts specialized coaching classes for JAM, SET/NET, GATE examinations for the undergraduate and postgraduate students. The Department also offers remedial classes for the slow learners. It is remarkable to note that the Department has been conducting National Conferences every year since 2005.

The Programmes conducted by the Department during 2020-2022 was a two-day National Workshop on ‘Functional Analysis and its Application’ was conducted on 13-14 February 2020, National Web Conference on ‘Recent Trends in Graph Theory’ was conducted on 12-13 July 2021, a two-day International Web Conference on ‘Pure and Applied Mathematics’ was organized on 23- 24, June 2020, a one-day National Webinar on ‘Modelling and Solving Optimization Problems in Operation Research using Microsoft Excel and Solver’ was organized on 27 July 2020, a two day workshop on ‘ICT tools for Smart Teaching and Learning’ in honour of Fr. A. Antonysamy S.J. This was held on 31st March 2022 and 1st April 2022. There was a very good response from lecturers and research scholars from various parts of the Country. SXC Centenary Year International Conference on ‘Recent Developments in Pure and Applied Mathematics’ was conducted on 19-21 July 2022.

Many of our students have participated in Inter-Collegiate competitions in academics and won overall championships and various prizes with the constant encouragement of our staff members. These activities have helped the students to go for higher studies abroad. They have won prizes in sports and cultural competitions conducted in our College. Some of our students have attended the summer training programme conducted by Mathematics Training and Talent Search Programme [MTTS]. A good number of students in the Department has been placed in reputed companies through campus recruitment. Special programmes are conducted to improve their academic performance as well as to motivate and encourage students to be aware of the job opportunities available and to know about the higher studies for their future. There are many distinguished and leading Mathematicians in India and abroad, who are alumni of the Department.

The list of staff who rendered yeomen service and those who are working now in the Department is given below: