Satish C. Bhatnagar’s career reflects a legacy of dedication, perseverance, and meaningful impact. During his 52-year tenure, he has published 12 books in seven genres, something he credits to UNLV’s supportive environment. He notes that elsewhere he may have been confined to a single discipline, an approach that would not have suited his polymathic scholarship.
Now UNLV’s longest-serving faculty member, Bhatnagar will share his story during the upcoming installment of the Graduate College’s My Professional Origin Story series. In advance of his lecture, Bhatnagar shares a glimpse of his story below.
What are a few of the defining moments of your educational journey?
It really goes back to the summer of 1961. In June, I turned down a research scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in the mathematics department of Panjab University, Chandigarh (a public university in India), where I had just finished my master of arts. My goal was to join the elite Indian Administrative Service.
However, only a month later in July, under a very strange set of circumstances, I was pulled into a one-year lectureship in the Government Rajindra College, Bathinda (now a premier institution in Punjab), my alma mater. At the end of the year, I liked college teaching so much that it became my priority. The rest is history.
In many ways, rashness, boldness, and spontaneity in decision-making have defined my entire life, and especially my educational journey. For instance, in the first seven years (1961-68) of my professional life, I worked at four different institutions. I was fired, I resigned, I just quit, and I was not hired back after the probationary period. Then, in August 1968, just a month after one such setback, I made another life-changing decision. Despite having once vowed never to leave India, I moved to the United States and joined Indiana University Bloomington as a teaching assistant in the mathematics department.
Describe a time when a mentor made an impact on your life.
I really never had a mentor. I grew up fiercely independent as the eldest of seven siblings. It was never in my nature to seek advice from anyone — which is still true today.
However, in June 1959, I met Principal Shanti Naryan of Hindu College, Delhi. I saw him with my uncle to discuss my admission to an MA program. He looked at my transcript and said, “You deserve a better place than my college — and that would be the Mathematics Department at Panjab University, Chandigarh.”
Looking back, I must say that his advice was great. But he was not my mentor. We only met for 15-20 minutes — never before and never afterwards. He had very high regards for my uncle.
If you could give advice to a younger version of yourself, what would you say?
Follow your guts in life and face the consequences of your decisions. In the long run of life, nothing is wasted; it is all recycled and comes back to enrich you.
Can you share a few words about the photo that you selected to highlight your story?
There are two pictures. One picture is of a poster on my being a polymath at UNLV. It was prepared two years ago for a college event highlighting research and scholarly activities of the faculty. The other is a group picture of 12 second-year master’s program students. It goes back to February 1961. Faculty are seated, but 12 students are standing in two rows. I am the only one not wearing a tie and standing far left in the middle row. I was 21 years old when I finished my master’s.
By the way, no one has been able to identify me correctly from this picture — even in half a dozen guesses!
