Aligarh: Professor Naima Khatoon has taken charge as the first woman Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), after 123 years of its establishment.
Khatoon, who joined office on Monday, has been the principal of Aligarh AMU’s Women’s College since 2014.
She was appointed by the Ministry of Education after approval from President Draupadi Murmu. The permission of the Election Commission of India (ECI) was also sought as the Model Code of Conduct for the General Elections is now in place. The ECI had no objection but warned that no political mileage should be derived from the appointment, the Times of India reported.
With Khatoon’s appointment, AMU becomes the third Central University after Jamia Millia Islamia University and Jawaharlal Nehru University to get its first woman VC.
The university had also recommended the names of former Dean, Faculty of Medicine AMU Professor Muzaffar Uruj Rabbani and VC Chanakya National Law University, Patna Professor Faizan Mustafa along with Gulrez for the post to the Ministry in November 2023, Indian Express reported.
The AMU VC did her PhD in psychology from AMU and was appointed as a lecturer in the same department in 1988. She became a professor in 2006. She has taught at the National University of Rwanda, Central Africa and was appointed the Director, Centre for Skill Development and Career Planning, AMU, in October 2015.
Khatoon’s appointment comes after a controversy last year over the selection procedure adopted by the university. Some in the university had complained of a conflict of interest as Khatoon’s husband Prof Mohammad Gulrez, the acting VC of AMU, had chaired the meeting that included her in the list.
