Dr Mariazeena Johnson is everything you’d expect a leader to be – a relentless champion for excellence in the field of education, a social reformer working towards the upliftment of the underprivileged, and a feminist motivating women to achieve greater heights through women’s empowerment programmes. As chancellor of Chennai’s Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology (deemed to be university), one of India’s premier academic and research universities that offers multi-disciplinary academic programmes in various fields, she is taking the brand name to greater heights with her expertise.
Edited excerpts from an interview:
What is it like to be the chancellor of a university that is working hard towards excellence in research and academics?
It is a huge responsibility to be the chancellor of an institute with a legacy of 35 years. I do revisit my plans often to clarify the path of realising our vision and to drive the workforce of the institution towards consistently arriving at remarkable milestones and achievements. Providing leadership to an institution of this scale is definitely a significant challenge, and I’m glad I’m able to steer its development at the needed pace.
I’m often awestruck by the responses of the young aspiring minds of our institution; their questions make me delve into thoughts about revamping our mission strategies. I like to deliberate over them in our boardroom discussions, considering the possibilities of providing definite solutions for new generation expectations in producing skilled manpower for societal needs.
Being the chancellor of Sathyabama, I always look at things from the perspective of inclusivity. Marginalised sections and women are taken into account while drafting any model or policy for implementation. Innovation has become our new motto of success. We have provided annual seed money grants, and encouraged students and faculty teams with innovative ideas in the past five years. Brand Sathyabama has been progressive with the right note of innovation in academics and research that has resulted in our consistent student success in placements, successful start-up ventures, and transformation of our students’ dreams into reality before their graduation.
Please tell us about Sathyabama University’s growth in line with sustainable development goals.
The focal point of progress in the institution is to always be responsive with regards to sustainable development. Equity and equality are elements of our inclusive growth model. For example, underprivileged students who cannot afford higher education are given the opportunity to pursue undergraduate degrees in the institution. We tie up with various NGOs in the process of scrutiny, selection and academic progression. Special coaching is given to the rural-background students to help them improve their communication and aptitude skills.
We also lay more emphasis on sustainable ecosystem development on the campus. Sathyabama is vigilant about societal transformations, and rises up to the academic and entrepreneurial demands of society with technical expertise and empathy. The institution is completely aligned with sustainable development goals and performing progressively in the implementation of them in the campus.
As chancellor, what are your long- and short-term goals for the university?
My vision for the institution is huge, with necessary shortand long-term plans. I have always had a realistic approach in realising set goals. Long-term goals include making Sathyabama the institution of choice for elite scientists, a globally-renowned dream academic destination for future generations, and an employability skill-enriching unit for industry partners. This will be achieved by an expansion of international collaborations, further strengthening the student support system, and reaching out to alumni spread across the globe for intensive associations in all possible arenas of development. We have begun this process and are making substantial progress in this direction.
My short-term goals complement the long-term objectives. These include maintaining achieved success in terms of accreditations, ranking, and ratings, and continuing to create an intellectual pool of people to support our academic and research plans for the future.
Tell us about challenges you have faced in your professional journey, and how you have dealt with them.
The challenges in my professional journey have tested my intent to be resilient in crunch situations. The pandemic was one of the biggest challenges I faced in my professional life, trying to mitigate the early hiccups to bring the institution back to normalcy. Making a quick paradigm shift to digitisation of courses, and continuing academic and employability support to students was one of the major concerns, but I was able to handle this crisis effectively, with the support of my team and the already-existing best practices of the institution.
What, according to you, does it take to be a leader?
Leadership is a naturally-evolving phenomenon. The impact of visionary leadership lives on after an individual’s life. One must understand the depth of this responsibility and embrace leadership with humility, courage and positivity. I strongly believe that compassion, self-belief and vision for the future make the best leader – be it of a firm or a nation. According to me, leadership is a wonderful opportunity to bring change in the system. When systems are strengthened, people are automatically eager to face any challenge; this is exactly what I mean about leadership – preparing the team to handle any situation with authenticity.
What does success mean to you?
Success, to me, is a humble yet perennial outcome of one’s calibre. Besides the generic quantified nature of success, it should necessarily reflect the attitude and ethical fabric of an individual. I always put team success first over individual accomplishments. When the team is successful, the system evolves to newer heights, which is good for the long-term achievements of any institution or organisation.
I believe that our success should speak of more than just us; it should summarise the passion behind our perseverance. I consider any success that transforms others’ lives to be the biggest and most precious.
What motivates or inspires you?
I am inspired by situations; they motivate me to move forward from static states of life. In each situation, I evolve to be a better version of myself. This, in turn, shapes my inner self and my outer aura in the best possible ways. I believe that tough situations make strong people.
What’s the one thing you still aspire to do?
I consider myself a complete woman at the personal level; all my aspirations are related to the field of education as a noble service. I believe that individuals of quality are the requirement of the future in terms of skill and attitude, and I wish to achieve this consistently through the work I am involved in.
How do you balance your personal and professional life?
Time is precious, and we can’t afford to waste it. If we plan intelligently and make use of the available 24 hours, we can be a success machine for a long time. Each individual’s personal and professional life can be in the proper place and order if we know the value of people and time, so value people’s presence in your life and prioritise the work in hand accordingly.
How do you unwind?
In a word, through ‘introspection’. This helps me find a new me within myself, it rejuvenates me. I don’t perform a critical analysis of myself day in and day out, but dive down into my thoughts and perform a short SWOT with utmost honesty. This has helped me unleash new energy and enthusiasm within myself.
What is your message to the youth of today?
Courage and focus is a combination of qualities that I believe will make anyone the best in their chosen field. My success mantra is my conviction: when I decide on something, I go for it. This clarity in thought is what is required to attain success. I believe that courage is not instant; it is an accumulated component of belief in our capacity, our past experiences, and our nature to not withdraw. This courage, when combined with a real thirst for success, makes our life inspiring to many others.
If you had to describe yourself in a few words, what would they be?
Empathetic, a challenge-seeker and a go-getter!
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