Ethiraj College for Women Ethiraj College for Women is a renowned arts and science college for women in Chennai, India, managed by the Ethiraj College Trust. It was founded in 1948 by eminent barrister V. L. Ethiraj of Vellore. History Ethiraj College for Women is an autonomous college situated in the heart of the city of Chennai with 9 acres of campus area. The formative years witnessed a strong foundation through introduction of undergraduate courses in Economics, Botany, Chemistry, History, Zoology and English Literature along with the infrastructural facilities, resulting in the construction of the Science Block, Hostel, Open Air Theatre and the Old Library Block. The landmark development of this decade was the auditorium, which to this day remains the pride of the college. The decade of 1968–1978 saw the growth of the college with the introduction of Commerce, Mathematics and Physics at the UG level and a number of PG courses and the construction of PG block. A significant development in the college was the introduction of evening college in 1981. The thrust was on research with introduction of M.Phil and Ph.D. programmes. The addition of the Annexe Campus of 59 grounds augured the new direction in the growth of the College. 1990-2000 saw a steady growth with the introduction job-oriented self-funded UG courses like Corporate Secretaryship, B.Com (Bank Management), BBA (Business Administration), B.Sc. Biochemistry, B.Sc. Microbiology and M.Sc. Plant Biology & Plant Bio-technology and the introduction of post-graduate AICTE approved courses MBA and MCA, which was an important milestone in the growth of the college. The construction of New Science Block and dormitories in the hostel marked the new phase of development. The beginning of the next decade witnessed the Day College becoming autonomous and the momentous growth of the College in its infrastructure: the N & D block, COE block, New Library, New hostel, Business Studies and Information Technology Block, all adding up to 2,66,000 Sqft. Besides these, the College has a Language Lab, Instrumentation Centre, Online access to the holdings in the Library, Internet Centre and Computer Labs. The College entered the global arena by signing an MOU with British Council for teaching Business English Certificate and First Certificate in English. The college has continuously evolved with times to suit the changing scenario. Botany was converted into Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology, one section of History into Tourism and Travel Management, two sections of Zoology into Advanced Zoology and Biotechnology. In the self-financing stream, Economics into Business Economics, one section of English to English and Communication Skills. At the PG level a course in Human Rights and Duties Education was introduced during 2002. New courses namely, B.Sc. Clinical Nutrition, M.Sc. Physics, M.Sc. Foods & Nutrition were also introduced from 2005 in the self-finance stream. In 2006 courses namely B.sc. Visual Communication, M.Sc. Biochemistry & M.Sc. Microbiology were introduced. Chairmen V. L. Ethiraj (1948-60) V. T. Rangaswami (1960-72) N. Mahalingam (1972-80) S. Natarajan (1980-98) S. Jagadeesan (1998-2008) A. M. Swaminathan (2008-13) V. M. Muralidharan (2013-19) Chandra Devi Thanikachalam (2019-present) Principals Subur Parthasarathy (1948-49, 1950-52) Mona Hensman (1953-60) Evangeline Matthew (1960-76) K. Vasanthi Devi (1976-84) N. A. Qadir (1984-85) Keser Chander (1985-88) Yasodha Shanmugasundaram (1988-94) Indhrani Sridharan (1994-2005) M. Thavamani (2005-11) Jothi Kumaravel (2011-14) A. Nirmala (2014-18) S. Kothai (2019-present) Notable alumnae Aishwarya Rajesh Padma Subrahmanyam Dhivya Suryadevara Trisha Krishnan Sudha Ragunathan Jayanthi Natarajan Joshna Chinappa Kanimozhi Karunanidhi Dipika Pallikal Dhivyadharshini Kanchana (actress) Chandini Tamilarasan Leesha Eclairs Madhumila Meenakshi Chitharanjan Latha Rajinikanth J. Vijaya, India’s first woman herpetologist Kasthuri Preetha Krishna Sudha Shah, Former Indian Cricketer & Former National Coach Sujata Sridhar, Former Indian Cricketer Sriya Reddy