'“Teachers can change lives with just the right mix of chalk and challenges”'
Dr. Marthal Nalini hails from a well known Christian family. After her meritorious education at Madras Christian College, true to her conviction that teaching is not merely a job, its life choice, took up teaching as her career. She was working at Holy Cross College, Trichirapalli, when she was appointed in the department of History, Ethiraj College for Women as a Lecturer in the year 1984 and rendered a yeoman service in the same college for more than 31 years.
Apart from her teaching duties, she has served the college in various capacities, beginning as the Deputy Warden of the College hostel. As a Coordinator, she has served in the Union Advisory, Stationery, Cleanliness and Discipline committees. She has served in various committees of the college and the Department as a member. She was a member of the Convention on Contemporary Issues in Higher Education organized by the Student Union in 2007. As a member of the IQAC, She was active in framing the quality policy of the college. She was the nodal officer entrusted with the conduct of the orientation course for the newly recruited teachers of government arts and science colleges in the year 2011.
Dr.Marthal Nalini has been shouldering departmental duties with her usual determination and hard work. She was in charge of the History Association and editor of the Departmental Journal Historica. She has been deeply interested in the history of USA, History of China and Japan, European History, Human Rights, Women Studies and Comparative Governments. She has guided several M.Phil research scholars and has been guiding 6 Ph.D candidates who have benefitted from her expertise and eye for detail.
She was awarded a fellowship for a period of one and a half months by the United Board for Christian Higher Education, Asia, as a scholar in the Institute for Advanced Studies in Asian Theologies and Cultures at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2006. Taking note of her expertise in women’s studies, she has been invited to deliver two lectures one at Maryville College, Tennessee, (USA) in 1999 and the other at Chung-Chi-College, Hong Kong in 2006.
Dr. Nalini’s quest for knowledge and research stirred her to participate, present and publish papers in Conferences in various International Conferences and Journals. These papers have been published in reputed refereed journals. She has chaired sessions in various conferences held in Texas (USA), Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Calcutta and Chennai. Her expertise in participating in various international and national conferences spurred in her a desire to organize a similar event in the college. She was both the organizing secretary and the editor of the proceedings of the International Conference in Social Sciences organized by the Department of History, Tourism and Travel Management in 2013.
Numerous colleges and universities have benefited from her expertise as a resource person, doctoral committee member, Board of Studies member and as member of the staff selection committee. Dr. Nalini has to her credit 8 publications in international peer reviewed journals and more than 14 publications at the national and regional levels.