Berhampur University is a university near Berhampur, Odisha, India. It is one of the oldest and major universities of Odisha, the others being Utkal at Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur University. The university came into existence on 2 January 1967, after a bill was passed in the Orissa Legislative Assembly and was inaugurated by Ayodhya Nath Khosla, the then Governor of Orissa and the first Chancellor of the University. The first Vice Chancellor, Justice Lingaraj Panigrahi was a jurist, educationist and educational administrator from Berhampur town. His tenure was brief and the task of establishing the infant university then fell to Raghunath Prasad Padhi. Padhi appointed distinguished scholars to senior positions in the university. In Botany, the first Head of Department was Harihar Pattnaik, who later became the Vice Chancellor of the university and was also the Chairman of the Regional Railway Recruiting Board. U. N. Biswal later became Vice-Chancellor of Sambalpur University. Chemistry was the only visible research school of the university in the initial years. In History the archaeologist Krushna Chandra Panigrahi was Head of Department. The Head of Department of Physics was S. N.