The Subir & Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies, established in 2013 with a generous gift from the Subir and Malini Chowdhury Foundation, champions the study of Bangladesh’s cultures, peoples and history. The first of its kind in the US, the Center’s mission is to create an innovative model combining research, scholarships, the promotion of art and culture, and the building of ties betw
een institutions in Bangladesh and the University of California. The Center was officially launced on Monday, March 30, 2015 by UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, Founder & Chairman of BRAC Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, and Mr. Chowdhury, originally from Chittagong and trained as an engineer, is a renowned business consultant, author of many books, and is one of the world’s leading management gurus particularly known for his emphasis on quality. In addition to promoting and integrating interdisciplinary scholarship, the Chowdhury Center will sponsor lectures and conferences and provide the following three scholarships:
The Subir Chowdhury Fellowship on Quality of Life in Bangladesh is for graduate students and will be matched by the University’s Graduate Fellowship Matching Program. The Malini Chowdhury Fellowship on Bangladesh Studies is for graduate students in any field concentrating on Bangladesh studies and will also be matched by the University’s Graduate Fellowship Matching Program. The Subir Chowdhury Undergraduate Scholarship will be awarded to students concentrating in South and Southeast Asian Studies at Berkeley and will be matched by the Ford Challenge, a fund provided by a Berkeley donor to match undergraduate scholarship gifts.
