The much-heralded Asian University for Women, slated to open in Bangladesh, has appointed its first president: Nancy S. Dye, president emerita of Oberlin College.

The university is billed as the first private women’s college in the region and, in addition to Bangladesh, hopes to enroll women from poorer areas of Cambodia, India, Pakistan, and other nearby countries.

Plans to build the university were announced in 2002. At the time, organizers hoped to enroll 2,000 students by 2005. Although beset by delays, the project has gained international attention and today has the backing of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and several other foundations.

Ms. Dye has experience in both women’s and international education. She served as chief academic officer at Vassar College, her alma mater, and became Oberlin’s first female president. While there, she expanded the university’s international focus.

She stepped down last year amid controversy, however, as dozens of faculty members objected to her vision for the college and asked that she resign. —Beth McMurtrie