For Dr. Shamima Ahmed, the highlight of her nearly 30 years at Northern Kentucky University has been not just working with students but also learning from them. 

"I may have learned a lot from reading books, engaging in scholarship and going to conferences, but I love that day-to-day discussion with students," she says. "Teaching is a lifelong learning profession. If you are open-minded, you can always learn from other people. It makes me realize that each one of us is so different, our experiences are so unique and that we can learn so much from each other. I love what I do here. I love that student interaction."

Dr. Ahmed, who grew up in Bangladesh, moved to the U.S. in 1984 to pursue her master’s degree in urban studies at the University of Akron and later received her doctorate degree in public administration and public affairs from Virginia Tech. 

After completing her Ph.D., she joined Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, as an assistant professor. It was a challenging time for her because her husband was teaching at a university in Indiana, and she had two small children with her. She wanted to move to a bigger city hoping that her husband would find a teaching position at a nearby institution. 

“I got lucky, because I only applied to this one place and got the job,” she says.

And she’s been at NKU ever since. 

Dr. Ahmed, who is one of four recipients of the 2025 Wise Women awards, teaches graduate students in NKU’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) program. From 2005-10, she oversaw the program as director and was the chair of the Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Organizational Leadership from 2010-17. 

She was also selected as a Fulbright Scholar twice and conducted various workshops and seminars in Tajikistan and Myanmar. In Tajikistan, she offered seminars on different topics related to organizational behavior, public administration and nonprofit management, for students at the Academy of Public Administration (Dushanbe). She also offered various workshops to the administrators and faculty at the Academy who wanted to learn more about the U.S. education system at the college level. Her Fulbright project in Myanmar included offering workshops to Myanmar Civil Service staff on various human resource management topics. While completing those Fulbright projects, she had the opportunity to meet and spend time—formally and informally—with many folks in those two countries who helped her to learn more about their cultures, the challenges they face and their aspirations. She loved both experiences. 

"When I visit an unknown place or country, I not only learn about that place and the people, but it also helps me learn about myself too," Dr. Ahmed explains. 

Her research interests are in nonprofit organizations and human resource management. She has published books and various research articles in those focus areas. 

But she loves being in the classroom. One of her favorite courses to teach, she says, is PAD 562: Managing Nonprofit Organizations. 

"I love teaching that course because nonprofit organizations are now considered a big part of public administration. The goals are the same for government organizations and nonprofit organizations—serve the client, not to make money," she says. "Some of the students in that course are practitioners, and they are very passionate about what they do. Their salary is not that much, but they do it because they know they are making a contribution to society. It’s very nice that I can see the impact when someone is taking the learning from that course and applying it in practice. I have had students who started their own nonprofit organizations after taking that course. I feel that by teaching that course, in a way, I'm also making some contribution."

Dr. Ahmed’s students in the MPA program are adult learners who work full-time jobs as city managers, park education officers, police chiefs and many other managerial and leadership positions in the public sector. 

The majority of these students also have families at home. That’s why she always sets homework assignment deadlines for Saturdays. 

"Our life is much bigger than our job or schoolwork,” she says. "It’s not easy to have a full-time job, a family and then come to campus for classes. I want them to enjoy Sunday and not to think about school. I always encourage them to try to have a balance between work and life."

And Dr. Ahmed isn’t afraid to follow her own advice. 

When she isn’t in the classroom or focusing on her research, she finds her balance between work and life by traveling. Internationally, she’s visited the United Kingdom, Spain, Morocco, Switzerland, Mexico, Tajikistan, France, Italy,  India, Kashmir and Nepal. 

However, the biggest item on her bucket list includes travel within the U.S. 

"One of my goals is that I’m going to travel to all 50 states," she says. "I’m done with 49 already; I only have Nebraska left. Hopefully, within the next couple of years, I will find a way to go to Nebraska and spend some time there. There’s always something to see and learn from these trips."