In a remarkable display of dedication, Farhana I M has secured second rank in M.Tech Computer Science and Engineering under Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU).
What makes her achievement extraordinary is not just academic excellence but the journey behind it. A mother of three, she balanced family responsibilities while pursuing higher education, proving that determination breaks barriers. Her story is a testament to the boundless nature of passion for learning.
Born to Ismail Kundapur and married to Imran Kundapur, Farhana shares a close bond with her brother-in-law, Mohammed Ashif Karnire, CEO of Expertise Contracting Company in Saudi Arabia.
Reflecting on her journey, Farhana credits her love for education and the desire to set an example for her children as her driving forces. She hopes her success inspires other mothers and students to pursue their aspirations despite challenges.
Her accomplishment stands as a beacon of motivation, encouraging students and professionals alike to chase their dreams with dedication and perseverance.
source: http://www.radiancenews.com / Radiance News / Home> Focus> Markers of Excellence / by Radiance News Bureau / February 16th, 2025
Tasneem Fathima Khaleel has had a successful career in academia. However, quite remarkably, she came back to where she started – teaching. M A Siraj reports.
Few people end their careers where they first began; Professor Tasneem Fathima Khaleel is among those few. “I am excited about the opportunity to finish my career in the classroom. And, with a little help, I will be teaching in a new state-of-the-art…facility,” says Tasneem, the first-ever woman to have obtained a doctorate in the State of Mysore in 1970. Prior to returning as a professor of Botany, she served as the dean of faculty at College of Arts & Sciences for a decade at the Montana State University at Billings (MUSB).
Paving a new path
Tasneem has been teaching Botany in the United States for over 40 years and has received many awards for her teaching and research. She has headed, or has been a member on as many as 23 different academic bodies or advisory councils in the US. For her contribution to research, with nearly 50 research publications on subjects ranging from cyto-embriology to plant reproduction, she was awarded the ‘Outstanding Research Award’ in 1995 by the Montana Research Academy and has also won the Faculty Excellence Award five times.
The year 2014 was a special year for Tasneem – she had the rare honour of an award being named after her, for mentoring at the MUSB. Reno Charette, director for American-Indian Education, was adjudged the winner of the first ‘Prof Tasneem Fathima Khaleel Award for Mentoring’.
Tasneem studied in Bengaluru, before heading to the US in 1975 after marriage. An alumna of Central College, Bengaluru, she has coveted every opportunity to visit her ‘City of Gardens’ – which she ruefully admits is more a part of nostalgia rather than reality.
A passionate researcher, she recalls that very few women could be seen in higher studies in those days. Only a couple of them were pursuing PhD while she was registered in Bangalore University as well as teaching biology as an assistant professor at the University of Agricultural Sciences at Hebbal between 1968 and 1975. Her study of ‘Flora at the GKVK Campus’ and ‘Weeds in Karnataka’ are still quoted as seminal works.
Writing her own destiny
Tasneem had finished her BSc and MSc by the time she was barely 19 years old. Wanting to be a teacher, she had put in her application, but was rejected, as the dean told her, “You look like a school girl, how would the students take you seriously?”
Instead, he directed her to register for a PhD programme, which had just been started in the Bangalore University. The Doctorate took longer than usual to complete because there was lack of guidance and direction, and the programme had several fits and starts.
Finally, at 26 when she got her her doctorate, she was being looked as ‘a confirmed spinster’ in her own cultural surroundings. Marriage was nowhere on her mental radar. It took her brother several sittings to convince her of getting married.
Tasneem travelled a long and twisted path – one shaped by her culture and her drive to excel, to become the distinguished professor that she is today. For most Americans who had only preliminary idea of Islam, a woman with covered head and such drive for excellence and perseverance was a combination of incongruities. “Women have rights in Islam. Muslim women didn’t even have to fight for those rights. The religion has given them those rights,” she says.
Dr Stn Waitr, her successor, says, “Dean Khaleel has raised the level of rigour, excellence and success in the College of Arts & Sciences to a standard that should serve as a model for the entire institution.” Interestingly, Tasneem even built a herbarium at the MUSB, which has around 17,000 specimens and is currently engaged in digitising it. She recalls with pride that she was the most productive member on the faculty of science at the MSU, which has nearly 22,000 students today in two campuses. Tasneem’s most significant discovery was the finding of mammalian steroids in plants, which she says, are responsible for sex expression in plants.
Author of four books, 10 external and 17 internal grants at the MSUB, Tasneem is excited about beginning her teaching career once again. “It had never ended. I had maintained a room in my department building, even while I headed the faculty,” she says.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Content / by M.A. Siraj / June 26th, 2015
Giving back to the community that has supported them for over 30 years was so important to Tasneem and Shafiq Khaleel that they set up an endowed scholarship at MSU Billings in 2006. The Khaleels place a high value on education and where it can take you in life. From the moment Billings, Montana, became their home, they have reached out to the community to share their Indian culture and to offer help to those in need or educate those who would discriminate against them.
Since those early years at MSU Billings, Dr. Tasneem Khaleel has achieved full professor, was chair of the Biological and Physical Sciences department for many years, served as chair of Graduate Studies, and was Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Shafiq Khaleel has built a successful veterinary practice and a rose garden that is the envy of Billings. According to Tasneem, “We both came to this country with an education that has allowed us to be who we are today. If the scholarship allows even one student to achieve his/her goals, it will be one more educated citizen who will have the potential to make a difference.”
The Tasneem and Shafiq Khaleel Endowed Scholarship was designed to help motivated students achieve their goals and ease some of their financial burden in completing their education. The first scholarship was awarded in academic year 2008-2009.
Impact
I am humbled to have been given the opportunity to receive the special scholarship from you both. Dr. Tasneem Khaleel, you have been a role model for me since I had you as my first science class professor at MSUB. I was honored to meet Dr. Shafiq and shake your hand that one afternoon when you picked Dr. Khaleel up from work. The scholarship you both have provided will give me the opportunity to help pay for my college another year at MSUB; it will forever be remembered. Impacting my life to support one more year of school is a stepping stone that will forever support my future endeavors. Again, thank you.” — Sarah G., Biology and Pre-Professional Medicine major
Three students of Dr. G Shankar Government Women’s First Grade College and Post Graduate Study Centre scored high ranks in the post-graduate exams conducted by Mangalore University for the academic year 2022-23.
Sayyed Reha Qadri, one of the students, has been awarded a gold medal for scoring 8.65 CGPA in MSc Chemistry.
M Preethi Acharya and Nidhi N Pai have scored second and fifth ranks, respectively, in M. Com., a press release from the college stated.
source: http://www.english.varthabharati.in / Vartha Bharati / Home> Karavali / by Vartha Bharati / June 08th, 2024
