Covered By:

Tuhin Sharma & Mohammad Owais Khan

For Dr. Kavita Pathak, walking back through the gates of Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow was like a homecoming.

The Associate Dean of Marketing recently returned after spending four years in Australia, where she taught business research methods at the University of Queensland. But prior to her adventure abroad, she had spent 12 years teaching at Jaipuria’s Lucknow campus. “All my earlier teaching habits have been formed here at Jaipuria, so I owe a lot to this institution. That’s why when I decided to come back, I chose to come back to Jaipuria.”

With her areas of teaching being Marketing Management, International Marketing, Research Methods and Consumer Behaviour Research, Dr. Pathak still has her favourites.  “I do love marketing. I love nothing more than teaching core fundamentals of marketing and even specific areas like consumer behaviour, but my latest love has emerged to be business research methods.”

And while she’s happy to be back at Jaipuria Lucknow, she has no regrets about her stint in Australia. “Of the four years spent in Australia, the teaching experience was definitely enriching,” she said. “I was teaching International Marketing to students from 13 different nationalities sitting in the same classroom. The kind of exposure I received as a teacher was the most enriching experience.”

Dr. Pathak said she hasn’t had a chance yet to teach any of the current batches of students, because her duties have been keeping her extremely busy. “Right now, my hands are full with placement training-related activities for first year students and I’ve also been given the responsibility of looking after student relations on campus.” Added to these tasks is her responsibility to interface with final-year students and the organising the AIMCAT as well.

And with more than 20 published papers to her credit, there are more in the works. “One is definitely under review,” she said, “and at least two interesting and good quality publications will come up next year.”

In what spare time she has, she says, “I fight with my kids, watch silly TV soap operas when time permits. I love music and I read, which is the first love of my life.”

As for words of advice for Jaipuria Lucknow students, Dr. Pathak has this to say: “You are the only custodian of your future – your parents will not be there throughout your life unfortunately, and your peers will be gone before you realise it. The only custodian of how you will carry your name and your destiny forward is you, so you are responsible for your own actions.”