Fredericton Faculty of Arts

Dr. Murshed Chowdhury is an Associate Professor of Economics at UNB Fredericton. He has expertise in open economy macroeconomics, financial regulations, international development and migration.

Since joining UNB in 2016, he has been involved in various collaborative research projects, supervising graduate and undergraduate students.

Dr. Chowdhury has a passion and dedication for teaching. Before joining UNB, he taught at several universities across Bangladesh, China and Canada. Throughout his academic journey, he's been developing new courses and offering a wide array of courses, including international finance, development economics, macroeconomics and microeconomics.

His rich teaching experience across various institutions has enabled him to develop a distinctive teaching pedagogy that fosters engaging classroom discussions and inspire his students to learn more, regardless of whether the subject matter is quantitative or qualitative. His teaching philosophy is the principle of reciprocity. Instead of him speaking all the time, he is also an attentive listener in his classrooms. In his words;

"I don't treat the classroom as only a place for instruction; it's a place where I, as a teacher, implant the vision for the future. I try to read students' eyes and assist them to uproot their struggles. I create a secure learning environment where mistakes are considered a natural part of the learning process and corrected without any sense of condescension. As an educator, I don't need to prove in my classroom that I know everything. Rather, I emphasize the process of learning. I am open to admit my limitations. Seeing these allow students to come out of their shell and actively engage in classroom discussions."

A testament to this is a student's affirmation: "....I really like our discussions. He always encouraged us to ask, to think and speak up our opinion, though I don't know much compared to other students but listening to their points are also very helpful. He has a great teaching method; he is friendly to us. I'm glad taking your course.... Respect!"

Dr. Chowdhury is widely acknowledged as an enthusiastic, energetic, dedicated and innovative teacher who tries to inspire his students. He regards teaching as a great privilege to create bonding between generations, an honor and a responsibility.

He emphasizes in class that human beings are born with tremendous potential, but they can only unlock it when they are exposed to the right environment. As a great enthusiast in support of experiential learning, Dr. Chowdhury seamlessly bridges abstract economic theories with real-world applications.

He has been a mentor for the Bank of Canada's governor challenge competition, where he has guided more than 45 students in mastering the intricacies of determining monetary policy and, more specifically, interest rates by the Bank of Canada.

Attested by his colleagues, a noteworthy characteristic of Dr. Chowdhury's teaching philosophy is his unwavering strive to continuous improvement.

Related: UNB to grant professor emerita designation, teaching and research awards at spring graduation