Media Release
Mangluru, Mar 15: Joan Rita O’Brien, assistant professor and HOD of Sociology, St Aloysius (Deemed to be University), has been awarded PhD for her thesis ‘Warp and weft: A comparative study on the lives of the handloom weavers in Jajapur district, Odisha and Bagalkot district, Karnataka’ by Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
She was successfully guided by Dr Mary Gabriella Bage, former professor, PG Department of Sociology, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

She is the proud daughter of the late Dr Colin Joseph O’Brien, pro-vice chancellor, Adamas University, West Bengal and visiting professor of English and Manipur University, Manipur, and the granddaughter of the late Dr Amos P O’Brien, vice-chancellor, Berhampur University, Odisha and HOD English, Benaras Hindu University and Ravenshaw University.