Nestled in a Serene Campus in the heart of Karaikudi, Dr.Umayal Ramanathan College for Women is steeped in rich heritage. As an integral part of the Alagappa Group of Institutions founded by Dr.RM.Alagappa Chettiar who transformed the landscape of a shrub jungle of 1,000 acres in to a galaxy of educational institutions in the 1950's, it emanated from his vision to bring higher education to women in the community. In perhaps his crowning piece of philanthropy he gave away his own residence in Kottaiyur to found a Women's College. That dream was not fully realized as he died shortly thereafter.
The opening of Dr.Umayal Ramanathan College for Women is a culmination of that dream that his daughter Dr. Mrs. Umayal Ramanathan has passionately pursued to meet the emerging needs of women in the community and better prepare them to address the challenges of modern society. The college is committed to imparting holistic education and fostering disciplined pursuit of academic goals in women. Managed by the Dr. Alagappa Chettiar Educational Trust, the college offers a wide spectrum of academic discipline that include turnkey academic programs such as Information Technology and Biotechnology and provides state of the art infrastructure to become a center of academic excellence. Dr.Umayal Ramanathan College for Women was established in the year 2006 and is affiliated to Alagappa University, a member of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and the Association of Common wealth Universities (ACU).
The daughter of the great visionary Dr. R.M Alagappa Chettiar, Dr. Mrs. Umayal Ramanathan followed the footsteps of her illustrious father by founding two higher secondary schools in his name one at Karaikudi and another in Chennai. Apart from being the Secretary and Correspondent of The Alagappa Schools in Chennai and Karaikudi, she has held various important positions such as a member of the Syndicate of The Agricultural University at Coimbatore for two terms and a Member of the Senate of the Madurai Kamaraj University. As an active Social Worker, she was the member of the Social Welfare Board for Ramnad District for 2 terms. She was the Chairman of the Gangadeeshwarar Temple Committee for 3 years following which she became the Thakkar of the same temple.
Mr. Vairavan obtained his undergraduate degree at the Alagappa College of Technology in Guindy, in Chemical Engineering in 1970 and went on to pursue post-graduate education at Washington University St. Louis, Missouri, USA. On obtaining a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering he went on to obtain a Master of Business Administration degree specializing in Pharmaceutical marketing. He held various executive positions with the multinational company Hoechst AG of Germany in the US, Germany and Singapore. He founded a company in California, named Caldon Biotech Inc., engaged in the development, manufacturing and distribution of clinical diagnostic reagents and instrumentation. He is also a founding partner in Auto Genomics Inc., engaged in the development of a new platform to automate Genomic & Proteomic analyses. His immediate plans are to further the cause of education by setting up affiliated academic programs with US Universities and contribute to enhance opportunities for students.
