UAB professor named senior Fulbright specialist at World Learning

Akhlaque Haque, Ph.D.In 2007, Akhlaque Haque, Ph.D., a University of Alabama at Birmingham professor, taught geographic information systems to graduate students in the Master of Development Studies program at BRAC University in Dhaka, Bangladesh, during his first Fulbright Specialist program.    

Fourteen years later, Haque has now received the Senior Fulbright award and will be a senior Fulbright specialist. The Fulbright Specialist Program pairs American academics and professionals with host institutions abroad to share their expertise, strengthen institutional linkages, sharpen their skills, gain international experience and learn about other cultures while building relationships at their overseas host institutions.

Haque, who teaches in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Political Science and Public Administration, will serve the Indian Institute of Management in Kashipur, India. 

Haque says he kept in touch as an alumnus after finishing the program. Then recently a group of scholars from South Asia requested that he join the Senior Fulbright Specialist program.

“It has always been an aspiration to participate in the Fulbright program as an ambassador to help and educate academic and research programs in South Asia and beyond,” Haque said. “As a Fulbright scholar, I am very active in national and international development initiatives through my information and communication technology and public administration research.”

Haque plans to use three areas of expertise as a Fulbright specialist: ethical issues in public administration, sustainable development goals and crisis management.

“With the recent pandemic that has affected the world, I have found my expertise in geographic information systems to be highly beneficial for solutions to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on the social and economic lives of the people,” Haque said.

Haque’s father, Afzal Haque, was the first Fulbright scholar from Bangladesh and later received his master’s degree in law from the Southern Methodist University Dallas.

“As the son of a Fulbright scholar, I have always been passionate about the program,” he said.

Recently, Haque was elected co-vice president for the South Asian Network for Public Administration, a newly formed organization of members from all South Asian countries, including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan and Bhutan. 

Due to the evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States Department of State has temporarily suspended the Fulbright Specialist Program and postponed all Fulbright specialist projects.

The program is expected to resume in January 2022 after the U.S. Department of State grants authority.