Asian University for Women launches search for new vice-chancellor

Asian University for Women (AUW) has launched an international search for a new vice-chancellor and chief academic officer. The current vice-chancellor, Rubana Huq, will retire after having completed a four-year term. AUW has retained the international executive search firm WittKieffer to assist with the search process, reports a press release published on Wednesday.

A search committee co-chaired by Professor John Sexton, president emeritus of New York University (and an honorary graduate of AUW), dean emeritus, Benjamin F Butler, professor of Law at New York University Law School, and Paula Johnson, president of Wellesley College (who is also an honorary graduate of AUW) will lead the search committee.

Other members of the search committee include Firdausi Qadri, senior scientist and director of the Center for Vaccine Science at icddr, b in Bangladesh, Paul Ciampa, a Boston-based former hedge fund manager, Alpna Seth, a veteran of the biotech industry who currently serves on the board of directors of multiple public biopharma companies in the US, and Meredith Woo, former President of Sweet Briar College.

Firdausi Qadri, Alpna Seth and Meredith Woo are all members of the AUW Board of Trustees while Ciampa is a member of the AUW Support Foundation Board of Directors.

The Search Committee will present its recommendations to the Board of Trustees for its final decision on the appointment of the new vice-chancellor.

Recent years have seen a dramatic expansion of student enrollment as well as proliferation of academic programmes at the Asian University for Women. A major grant from the Andrew W Mellon Foundation has enabled AUW to establish a programme in the Humanities encompassing History, Literature, Philosophy, and Religion.

A new major in Applied Math and Data Sciences (AMDS) is also up and running. AUW's first engineering programme offering joint Bachelor's and Master's in Chemical and Environmental Engineering—will begin in August 2026 with curricular and faculty support from Imperial College London.

The programme is being financed by the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark and is being organised for eventual accreditation by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE). A state-of-the-art academic facility that will house the science and engineering teaching and research laboratories is nearing completion on the permanent campus of the university.

Recruiting from over 20 countries in Asia and the Middle East, AUW seeks out high-potential young women from communities with few opportunities for advancement, and provides them with the academic, professional, and financial support required to earn their bachelor’s degrees and to take on change-making roles.

Since opening its doors in 2008, AUW has graduated 12 classes totaling more than 1800 women. Currently, more than 2,000 students study at AUW, the vast majority of AUW students are first in their family to attend university, and virtually all receive full financial aid.

Over 50 per cent of AUW graduates attend graduate school internationally at a range of top institutions including Oxford, Stanford, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Cambridge, Columbia, Brandeis, and Ewha (South Korea).

Graduates have gone into careers with organisations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), NASA, Citibank, UNICEF, UNHCR, Deloitte, BNP Paribas, Aga Khan Foundation, and civil service of their respective governments.