Professor Nihar Ranjan Patnaik, born at Cuttack in 1957 had his M.A. (1977), M.Phil. (1982), Ph.D. (1989), D.Litt. (1993) degrees from Utkal University. He has served in different Govt. Colleges of Orissa for 29 years, out of which 17 years in Ravenshaw itself. Since 1998 he has been working as Professor and Head of the Dept. of History in Ravenshaw College, later in Ravenshaw University.

He has authored 7 Research Books, co-authored 30 Text Books and edited 7 Research Books. He has been the editor of different journals, souvenirs, calendars and magazines including Ravenshaw Historical Journal. More than 200 of his research/historical articles have been published. He has participated in a number of international & national seminars as chairman, chief speaker or resource person. Recently his paper on Buddhism in Orissa presented in SSEASR Conference held in Mahidol University, Bangkok in May 2007 has been highly appreciated. Under his guidance, 10 scholars have been awarded Ph.D.degrees. He has held the post of Vice President and Joint Secretary of Orissa History Congress, each for 3 terms. Prof. Patnaik has the rare distinction of visiting some leading institutions of Bengal, Bihar and Assam as the Member-Coordinator of National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC) Peer Team of UGC, Bangalore. He was Principal (I/C), Member of Governing Body and Member of Academic Council of Ravenshaw College in number of occasions. He has been the Chairman/Member of different Academic bodies and Inspection teams of different Universities, Colleges, SCERT, BSE, NISWASS etc. Prof.Patnaik writes scripts for AIR and Door Darshan along with regular participation including live commentary.

He is the recipient of Gajapati Samman (1995) and H.K.Mahtab Award (2002).
Telephone No.0674-2557179(R), 9861064950(M)
E-mail: nihar_ptnk@yahoo.com