Shireen Akhter

Akhter was born on 1 May 1956 to a Bengali family of Muslim Chowdhuries in Eidgaon, Cox's Bazar subdivision, Chittagong District, East Pakistan.^[5] Her father was Afsar Kamal Chowdhury and mother was Begum Lutfunnahar Kamal.^[5]

Akhter completed her SSC and HSC in 1973 and 1975 respectively. She earned her bachelor's and master's from the University of Chittagong in 1978 and 1981 respectively.^[6] In 1991, She earned her PhD from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India.^[6]

Akhter was a member of Election Commission (EC) Search committee. She joined the University of Chittagong as a lecturer of Bangla department in 1996.^[7][8]

In 2006, Akhter was promoted to professor.^[9]

Akhter was appointed the first female vice chancellor of the University of Chittagong on 3 November 2019.^[6] She replaced Dr Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury.^[9] In November 2020, she was nominated for the Begum Rokeya Padak and received it in December from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.^[10][11]

On 29 April 2021, Akhter was reappointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Chittagong.^[12]

Akhter's office was vandalized in January 2023 by Bangladesh Chhatra League activists led by its University of Chittagong unit President Moynul Hasan for not recruiting Raihan Ahmed, a Bangladesh Chhatra League activist, as a faculty.^[13]

Akhter was married to Major (Retired) Latiful Alam Chowdhury.^[14] He died on 29 July 2020.^[14] They had two children.^[5]

• Bangladesher Tinjon Oupanyasik Showkat : Osman, Waliullah, Abu Ishaq. (1991)^[15]