Rounaq Jahan joined the faculty of Columbia University in 1990 as a senior research scholar at the Southern Asian Institute and as an adjunct professor of international affairs, School of International and Public Affairs. She has taught the following graduate courses: Women and Development: Key Policy Issues (1991–95); Gender, Politics and Development (1998); and Arsenic Crisis in Bangladesh (2000).
Professor Jahan's research is concentrated on gender and development, governance, health, and politics of Bangladesh. Among her books are Bangladesh: Promise and Performance, which she edited (Zed Books 2000), The Elusive Agenda: Mainstreaming Women in Development (St. Martin's Press 1995); Bangladesh Politics: Problems and Issues (University Press 1980); Women and Development: Perspectives from South and South-East Asia, which she coedited with Hanna Papanek (Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs 1979); and Pakistan: Failure in National Integration (Columbia 1972). She is also the author of numerous articles published in edited books and academic journals.
In this exclusive interview with VOA Bangla Service, Profesor Jahan talks about her area of interest , her interactions with students at Columbia , their intellectual abilities and an eagerness to focus both on theory and practice . She thinks that the possibility of a lady becoming the President of the USA is not very remote and Hillary Clinton, despite criticisms , has been appreciated as a potential presidential candidate.
