Abu Tayeb Rafiqur Rahman, Ph.D.

          Dr. ATR Rahman received his doctoral degree in political science from Duke University in 1969. Previously, he earned his master’s degree in political science from Dhaka University, Bangladesh, and a joint master’s degree in public administration from Karachi University, Pakistan and University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and Finance. He also obtained a diploma in development administration from Michigan State University.

          Dr. Rahman worked for the Division of Public Administration and Development Management of the United Nations Secretariat for fifteen years. He was a Deputy Director, the Chief of Governance and Public Administration Branch, the Chief of Public Financial and Enterprise Management Branch, and a Senior Public Administration Officer of that U.N. division. Prior to that, he was a Senior Technical Advisor for the Canadian International Development Agency. Dr. Rahman also worked for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada for eight years. As an Associate Director, he was in charge of the Development Management Unit of the Social Sciences Division of IDRC.

          Dr. Rahman is an expert on the role of public administration in development. While he was associated with the Academy for Rural Development, Comilla, Bangladesh, he trained government officials at all levels on politics, planning, organization and management aspects of rural development programs and projects. During his seven years of association with the Academy, he also undertook research activities on the working of local councils and organizations, and the management of public works programs. While he was with the IDRC in Canada, he concentrated on the study of the direct economic management role of government. At the United Nations, Dr. Rahman took active role in studying appropriate government machinery, including decentralization, policy formulation, and implementing the role of the civil service for development.

          During the twenty year period he worked for the IDRC and the United Nations, Dr. Rahman has been involved in organizing training seminars and undertaking consultancy missions to numerous countries around the world. He organized workshops and training seminars for government officials on various topics related to public administration and development in Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, India, Zimbabwe, Denmark, Sweden, as well as in New York City.  He also undertook numerous consultancy missions to Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Guyana and Trinidad.   

          In addition to his lengthy career in research and administration, Dr. Rahman also taught at various educational institutions. He was an assistant professor in the Department of International Studies, Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science, Dhaka University, Bangladesh, and a visiting professor of political science at Carlton University, Ottawa, Canada.

          Dr. Rahman authored seven books on rural development and public administration, and had primary responsibility to prepare ten reports and monographs for the United Nations. His articles and book reviews have been published in numerous international scholarly journals. He was a recipient of an International Development Fellowship, awarded by the East-West Center, Hawaii, an Asia Foundation Fellowship, jointly awarded by the University of Karachi and the University of Pennsylvania, and a joint award by the United States Agency for International Development and the Ford Foundation.

          Dr. Rahman was born in Bangladesh, and currently lives in New York state. After a successful and outstanding career in international arena, he still pursues intellectual activities in his professional field. He is now an Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at Baruch College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and a Guest Lecturer at the Harvard Institute of International Development, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is also a consultant to the Division of Governance, Public Administration and Finance, United Nations Secretariat.