The Board of Trustees of the Asian University for Women (AUW) has appointed Dr. Rubana Huq as the new Vice Chancellor of the University. 

Dr. Huq who earned wide prominence as the first female president of the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), is a published poet who earned her PhD in Literature from India’s Jadavpur University. 

Dr. Huq has been a trustee of AUW and, was more recently, elected as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees, AUW said on Tuesday.

She was instrumental in launching AUW’s Pathways for Promise program that enables exceptionally talented workers from Bangladesh’s ready-made garment (RMG) factories to enroll at AUW. 

She was named as one of BBC’s top 100 women in the world in 2013 and again in 2014. 

Dr. Huq is currently also a Visiting Fellow at the Stern School of Business at New York University and the Asia Center at Harvard University.

In announcing Dr. Huq’s appointment, Education Minister and Chair of the AUW Board of Trustees Dr Dipu Moni said in Rubana Huq, the trustees found an exemplary leader and administrator to lead AUW to its next stage of development. 

"She will bring the high intellectual qualities that make AUW a special place but also the fine managerial and financial acumen that AUW needs in constructing its new campus in Chittagong and stabilizing its finances to make the institution sustainable over the long run," Dipu Moni said.

While accepting the appointment, the incoming Vice Chancellor Rubana Huq said AUW has always been a symbol of creativity and ingenuity to her.

"The institution’s unassailable commitment to both scholarship and education, the caliber of the faculty, and the spirit of the students from all over Asia make AUW unique."

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She also said, "With the talent and the values we have, backed by the vision of the Founder, Kamal Ahmad and the guidance of the Chair, Dr. Dipu Moni and other trustees, I am convinced that we will emerge as a symbol of ultimate meritocracy with the aspiration to be better every day. ”

Dr. Huq succeeds noted political scientist Professor Nirmala Rao who retired from AUW after serving as AUW’s Vice Chancellor for five years.

In acknowledgment of Professor Rao’s service to AUW, Minister Dipu Moni said that “AUW was fortunate to have the benefit of Professor Rao’s leadership in directing the University for five years.  Professor Rao brought to AUW her wide global experience in higher education to help shape AUW as a regional center of excellence.  We owe a huge debt to Professor Rao for her contributions to AUW.”

Dr. Huq will be supported on the academic programs by two deans:  Dr. Beena Khurana, a cognitive psychologist with a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley who had previously been on the faculty of Cornell and Sussex Universities as well as at California Polytechnic where she directed the MBA Program and Dr. David Taylor, a historian of South Asia who served as Pro Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) as well as Vice Provost and Interim Provost of the Aga Khan University in Pakistan.