Prof. Mahesh Rangarajan, Vice Chancellor and Professor of History and Environmental Studies, Krea University, Sri City has been conferred the distinction of ‘Honorary Foreign Member’ by the American Historical Association (AHA). The AHA granted Prof. Mahesh Rangarajan the honorary membership in appreciation of his extensive service in the discipline of history.
Founded in 1884, the American Historical Association is the oldest Professional association of historians in the United States, and the largest such organization in the world.Prof Mahesh joins a rare circle of historians who have been conferred this honour. The first ever recipient of this recognition was Sir Jadunath Sarkar, the pre-independence academic who has been called the “greatest Indian historian of his time”. Only three eminent Indian historians have received this honour so far.
Prof Mahesh studied at Hindu College, University of Delhi for BA Honours in History and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford 1986 to 1989. He has MA in Modern History from Balliol CoIlege and Doctorate from Nuffield College, Oxford. He has been Professor at Delhi University and at Ashoka University. In 2011-15 he was Director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. He has taught at Cornell University and National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru.
Prof Mahesh has authored three books and co-authored several others. The first ‘Fencing the Forest’ was published in 1996, and the most recent ‘Nature and Nation’ in 2015. The co-edited works include ‘Nature without Borders’ in 2014, ‘Shifting Ground’ in 2014 and ‘At Nature’s Edge’ in 2018. In 2010 he was Chair of the Elephant Task Force of Government of India. In 2015 he was recipient of the Dr TrilokiNathKhoosho Memorial Prize on Environment and Development.
