American University In Cairo
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The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a
private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
. The university offers American-style learning programs at undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels, along with a
continuing education Continuing education (similar to further education in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland) is an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United ...
program. The AUC student body represents over 50 countries. AUC's faculty members, adjunct teaching staff and visiting lecturers are internationally diverse and include academics, business professionals, diplomats, journalists, writers and others from the United States, Egypt and other countries. AUC holds institutional accreditation from the
Middle States Commission on Higher Education The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...
in the United States and from Egypt's National Authority for Quality Assurance and Assessment of Education.


History

The American University in Cairo was founded in 1919 by the
American Mission in Egypt The American Mission in Egypt is the name often given to the operations of the United Presbyterian Church of North America that began in Cairo in 1854. Americans journeyed to Egypt with the hope of converting Coptic Christians in Egypt to Protestant ...
, a Protestant mission sponsored by the
United Presbyterian Church of North America The United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA) was an American Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a pri ...
, as an English-language university and preparatory school. University founder Charles A. Watson wanted to establish a western institution for higher education. AUC was intended as both a preparatory school and a university. The preparatory school opened to 142 students on October 5, 1920, in Khairy Pasha palace, which was built in the 1860s. The first diplomas issued were junior college-level certificates given to 20 students in 1923. There were disputes between Watson, who was interested in building the university's academic reputation, and United Presbyterian leaders in the United States who sought to return the university to its
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
roots. Four years later, Watson decided that the university could not afford to maintain its original religious ties and that its best hope was the promotion of good moral and ethical behavior. Originally limited to male students, the university enrolled its first female student in 1928. That same year, the university graduated its first class, with two Bachelor of Arts and one Bachelor of Sciences degrees awarded. In 1950, AUC added its first graduate programs to its ongoing Bachelor of Arts, bachelor of sciences, graduate diploma, and continuing education programs, and in 1951, phased out the preparatory school program. During the
Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
, AUC avoided being nationalized, although most American faculty were forced to leave the country. By the mid-1970s, the university offered a broad range of liberal arts and sciences programs. In the following years, the university added bachelors, masters, and diploma programs in engineering, management, computer science, journalism and mass communication and sciences programs, as well as establishing a number of research centers in strategic areas, including business, the social sciences, philanthropy and civic engagement, and science and technology. In the 1950s, the university also changed its name from The American University at Cairo, replacing "at" with "in." The
American University in Cairo Press The American University in Cairo Press (AUCP, AUC Press) is the leading English-language publisher in the Middle East. The largest translator of Arabic literature in the world, AUC Press has a reputation for carefully selecting and translating t ...
was established in 1960. By 2016, it was publishing up to 80 books annually. In 1978, the university established the Desert Development Center to promote
sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
in Egypt's reclaimed desert areas. The Desert Development Center's legacy is being carried forward by the Research Institute for a Sustainable Environment. Faculty voted "no confidence" in university president Francis J. Ricciardone in February 2019. In a letter to the president, the faculty cited "low morale, complaints about his management style, grievances over contracts and accusations of illegal discrimination" with tensions further increasing when Ricciardone invited
U.S. Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...
to give a speech at the university. On February 11, 2019, the Board of Trustees of the American University in Cairo reaffirmed its continued confidence and unqualified support for President Francis J. Ricciardone. In May 2019, it extended his tenure till June 2024. Ricciardone retired June 2021. The board of trustees announced their appointment of
Ahmad Dallal Ahmad S. Dallal () is a scholar of Islamic studies and an academic administrator. He is the current president of The American University in Cairo. Biography Dallal received his bachelor's degree in engineering from the American University of ...
as the university's 13th president on June 22, 2021.


Campus


Tahrir Square campus

AUC was originally established in
Tahrir Square Tahrir Square ( ar, ميدان التحرير ', , English language, English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political dem ...
in downtown Cairo. The 7.8-acre Tahrir Square campus was developed around the Khairy Pasha Palace. Built in the neo-
Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
style, the palace inspired an architectural style that has been replicated throughout Cairo.Downtown Cultural Center brochure Ewart Hall was established in 1928, named for William Dana Ewart, the father of an American visitor to the campus, who made a gift of $100,000 towards the cost of construction on the condition that she remain anonymous.The American University in Cairo: 1919-1987, p 37 The structure was designed by A. St. John Diament, abutting the south side of the Palace. The central portion of the building houses an auditorium large enough to seat 1,200, as well as classrooms, offices and exhibition galleries. The school's continued growth required additional space, and in 1932, a new building was dedicated to house the School of Oriental Studies. East of Ewart Hall, the building featured Oriental Hall, an auditorium and reception room built and decorated in an adaptation of traditional styles,The American University in Cairo: 1919-1987, p 85 yet responsive to the architectural style of its own time. Over time AUC added more buildings to what has become known as
The GrEEK Campus The GrEEK Campus, also GEEK Campus, is a technology and innovation park in Cairo, Egypt, offering workspaces for startups as well as established local and multinational companies. Located in Downtown Cairo, The GrEEK Campus consists of five offic ...
, for a total of five buildings and 250,000 square feet in downtown Cairo.Sophia Jones, "Cairo's Tahrir Square to Get a New neighbor: A Mini Silicon Valley"
''Huffington Post,'' 15 November 2013, accessed 28 January 2016
Sadat Metro was developed with access to the campus, and its main lines intersect near there. Also nearby is the
Ramses Railway Station Ramesses may refer to: Ancient Egypt Pharaohs of the nineteenth dynasty * Ramesses I, founder of the 19th Dynasty * Ramesses II, also called "Ramesses the Great" ** Prince Ramesses (prince), second son of Ramesses II ** Prince Ramesses-Meryam ...
. The campus wall on Mohamed Mahmoud Street still has revolutionary graffiti put up. The American University in Cairo made an initiative and tried to preserve the wall graffiti. Many admirers published and even documented these graffiti by collecting images/photos of the mural taken by visitors, who were present during this historic period.


New Cairo campus

In the fall of 2008, AUC left the Greek Campus and officially inaugurated AUC New Cairo, a new 260-acre suburban campus in
New Cairo New Cairo ( ar, القاهرة الجديدة ' is an Egyptian city covering an area of about on the southeastern edge of Cairo Governorate, 25 kilometres (15 mi) from Maadi. New Cairo is one of the new cities which have been built in ...
, a satellite city about 20 miles (and 45 minutes) from the downtown campus. New Cairo is a governmental development comprising 46,000 acres of land with a projected population of 2.5 million people.''The Daily News'' (Egypt), 8 February 2009 AUC New Cairo provides advanced facilities for research and learning, as well as all the modern resources needed to support campus life. In its master plan for the new campus, the university mandated that the campus express the university's values as a liberal arts institution, in what is essentially a non-Western context with deep traditional roots and high aspirations.A City for Learning: AUC’s Campus in New Cairo, 2004, page 20 The new campus is intended to serve as a case study for how architectural harmony and diversity can coexist creatively and how tradition and modernity can appeal to the senses.A City for Learning: AUC’s Campus in New Cairo, 2004, page 14 Campus spaces serve as virtual laboratories for the study of desert development, biological sciences, and the symbiotic relationship between environment and community. The two campuses together host 36 undergraduate programs and 46 graduate programs. The New Cairo campus offers six schools and ten research centers. The Research Centers Building houses the AUC Forum, the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Center for American Studies, the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, and the Yousef Jameel Science and Technology Research Center. The Dr. Hamza AlKholi Information Center houses AUC's offices for enrollment, admissions, student financial affairs and student services. The Howard Theatre is located at The Hatem and Janet Mostafa Core Academic Center, along with the Mansour Group Lecture Hall, the Academic Advising Center and the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies. The AUC Center for the Arts includes two theaters: the Malak Gabr Arts and the Gerhart, as well as the Sharjah Art Gallery and offices for the Department of Performing and Visual Arts. The university's Campus Center provides students with a communal area to eat, congregate, organize trips, and attend campus-wide events. Inside the building are a bookstore, gift shop, bank, travel office and the main dining room. There is also a daycare center, a faculty lounge and the Office of Student Services, the Travel Office and the AUC Press Campus shop. Near the Campus Center is the student-housing complex. Across from the student residences is the three-story AUC Sports Center, including a 2,000-seat multipurpose court, a jogging track, six squash courts, martial arts and exercise studios, a free weight studio, and training courts. Outdoor facilities include a 2,000-seat track and field stadium, swimming pool, soccer field, jogging and cycling track, and courts for tennis, basketball, handball and volleyball. Housing one of the largest English-language collections in the region, AUC's five-story library includes space for 600,000 volumes in the main library and 100,000 volumes in the Rare Books and Special Collections Library; locked carrels; computer workstations; video and audio production and editing labs; and comprehensive resources for digitizing, microfilming and preserving documents. In addition, on the plaza level of the library, the Learning Commons emphasizes group and collaborative learning. This unique area integrates independent study, interactive learning, multimedia and technology rooms, and copy and writing centers.


Construction of New Cairo campus

AUC New Cairo was built using 24,000 tons of reinforcing steel, as well as 115,000 square meters of stone, marble, granite cladding and flooring. More than 7,000 workers worked two shifts on the construction site. Sandstone for the walls of campus buildings was provided by a single quarry in
Kom Ombo Kom Ombo (Egyptian Arabic: ; Coptic: ; Ancient Greek: or ; or Latin: and is an agricultural town in Egypt famous for the Temple of Kom Ombo. It was originally an Egyptian city called Nubt, meaning City of Gold (not to be confused with t ...
, 50 kilometers north of
Aswan Aswan (, also ; ar, أسوان, ʾAswān ; cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the ...
. The stone arrived by truck in giant multi-ton blocks, which were cut and shaped for walls, arches and other uses at a stone-cutting plant built on the site. The walls were constructed according to energy management systems which reduce campus air conditioning and heating energy use by at least 50 percent as compared to conventional construction methods. More than 75 percent of the stone in the Alumni Wall that circles the campus was recycled from stone that would otherwise have been discarded as waste after cutting. A 1.6-kilometer service tunnel that runs beneath the central avenue along the spine of AUC's campus is a key element to making its overall pedestrian nature possible. Services accessible via the tunnel include all deliveries and pickups from campus buildings, fiber optic and technology-related wiring, major electrical conduits and plumbing for hot water, domestic water and chilled water for air conditioning. All other pipes for sewage, natural gas, irrigation and fire fighting are buried on the campus, outside the tunnel, around buildings as needed for their purposes.


Inauguration and awards

Margaret Scobey Margaret Scobey (born c. 1949) is an American diplomat and former United States Ambassador to Egypt and United States Ambassador to Syria. Biography Scobey graduated from Immaculate Conception High School in Memphis, Tennessee in 1967. She earne ...
, former US Ambassador to Egypt, was among the guests at the inauguration in February 2009.USAID Frontlines, March 2009 In her remarks, Scobey said,
“The new demands of our new world raise the importance of education. We need our future leaders to be diverse and to have a diverse educational experience…Perhaps most importantly, we need leaders who are dedicated to developing a true respect for each other if we are going to effectively work together to harness these forces of change for the greater good.”
Ambassador Scobey also delivered a message of congratulations to AUC from US President Barack Obama. In 2013 AUC signed a 10-year lease agreement with Tahrir Alley Technology Park (TATP), a Cairo-based company that intends to keep the Greek Campus name, to operate the Greek Campus. AUC will retain full ownership. It turned over five buildings to TATP. This campus is to be developed as a technology park, encouraging start-ups and development of small businesses. TATP has said it will provide space on campus for approved artists. The
Urban Land Institute The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI advocates progressive development, conducting research, and education in topics such as s ...
based in the United States recognized AUC's new campus design and construction with a special award recognizing its energy efficiency, its architecture, its capacity for community development.


Governance and administration

The American University in Cairo is an independent educational institution governed by a board of trustees. In addition, a panel of trustees ''emeriti'' functions as an advisory board. The Board has its own by-laws and elects a chairperson for an annual term. There are no students on the Board. Francis Ricciardone was the president of AUC from 2016 until 2021. In February 2019, both the faculty and the student senate of the American University overwhelmingly voted that they had "no confidence" in Ricciardone's leadership. In a letter to the president, the faculty cited "low morale, complaints about his management style, grievances over contracts and accusations of illegal discrimination" with tensions further increasing when Ricciardone invited U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to give a speech at the university. The 13th president of AUC, Ahmad S. Dallal, graduated with a degree in
mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
from AUC. He obtained advanced degrees from and taught at several renown universities in the United States prior to taking on administrative positions at
American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...
from 2009 to 2015 and
Georgetown University in Qatar Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) is a campus of Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) in Education City, outside of Doha, Qatar. It is one of Georgetown University's eleven undergraduate and graduate schools, and is supported by a partner ...
from 2017 to 2021.


University presidents

*
Ahmad Dallal Ahmad S. Dallal () is a scholar of Islamic studies and an academic administrator. He is the current president of The American University in Cairo. Biography Dallal received his bachelor's degree in engineering from the American University of ...
(2021-) * Ehab Abdel-Rahman (July–October 2021) "acting president" * Francis J. Ricciardone (2016–2021) *Thomas E. Thomason (2015–2016), ''interim president'' *
Lisa Anderson Lisa Anderson (born October 16, 1950) is an American political scientist and the former President of the American University in Cairo (AUC). Research and career A specialist on Middle Eastern and North African politics, Anderson served as the P ...
(2011–2015) *David C. Arnold (2003–2011) *John D. Gerhart (1998–2003) *Donald McDonald (1990–1997) * Richard F. Pedersen (1977–1990) *Cecil K. Byrd (1974–1977) *Christopher Thoron (1969–1974) * Thomas A. Bartlett (1963–1969) *Raymond F. McLain (1954–1963) *
John S. Badeau John Stothoff Badeau (February 24, 1903 – August 25, 1995) was a diplomat, engineer, minister, and scholar who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt and as the second President of The American University in Cairo. Early life and education Ba ...
(1944–1953) * Charles Watson (1919–1944)


Academics

AUC offers 37 bachelor's degrees, 44 master's degrees, and 2 doctoral degrees in applied sciences and engineering in addition to a wide range of graduate diplomas in five schools: Business, Global Affairs and Public Policy, Humanities and Social Sciences, Sciences and Engineering, and the Graduate School of Education. The university's English-language liberal arts environment is designed to promote critical thinking, language and cultural skills as well as to foster in students an appreciation of their own culture and heritage and their responsibilities toward society. In November 2020, Provost Ehab Abdelrahman dissolved the Graduate School of Education without warning and without a plan to merge with the School of Humanities and Social Sciences AUC holds institutional accreditation from the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools in the United States. AUC's engineering programs are accredited by ABET (formerly Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) and the business programs are accredited by the Association to Advance College Schools of Business (AACSB.) In Egypt, AUC operates within the framework of the 1975 protocol with the Egyptian government, which is based on the 1962 Cultural Relations Agreement between the U.S. and Egyptian governments.{{cite web, title=AUC's Accreditation, url=http://www.aucegypt.edu/about/about-auc/accreditation, website=aucegypt.edu, access-date=20 April 2016 In the United States, AUC is licensed to grant degrees and is incorporated by the State of Delaware. In addition, many of AUC's academic programs have received specialized accreditation. Faculty at AUC are frequently harassed by senior administration, led by Abdelrahman. In 2019, Adam Duker was subjected to so-called investigations in an attempt to force him to resign. In 2022, Abdelrahman terminated a popular professor's contract because he spoke out against corrupt policies and contract violations while advocating for a faculty union. Students were abruptly informed that the professor is "not available" and cancelled their classes with him. Enrollment in academic programs includes over 5,474 undergraduates with an additional 979 graduate students (2017 - 2018). Simultaneously, adult education has also expanded and now serves more than 22,000 students each year in non-credit courses and contracted training programs offered through the School of Continuing Education. 94% of AUC students are Egyptian, with the remaining 6% from around the world.


Rankings

* AUC is ranked 411th university globally and 9th in the "Arab Region" by QS World University Rankings in their 2021 rankings * Ten AUC graduate programs were ranked among the top in Africa and best 200 worldwide in Eduniversal's Best Master's Rankings for 2015 - 2016 * AUC placed 81 out of 407 institutions worldwide in the Universitas Indonesia (UI) GreenMetric World University Ranking for 2015 - 2016


Student life


Student activities

AUC has 70 student organizations. Most of the student activities at AUC are organized by students in areas of community service, student government, culture and special interests, academics, and student conferences. Organizations include, but are not limited to: *
Delta Phi Epsilon (professional) Delta Phi Epsilon () or Delta Phi Epsilon Foreign Service Council the largest national American professional foreign service fraternity and sorority. Founded on January 25, 1920, it was the first fraternity dedicated to careers in foreign dipl ...
, professional foreign service fraternity (Independent Chapter). *Help Club *The Student Union *Developers Inc. *
Cairo International Model United Nations Cairo International Model United Nations (CIMUN) is a collegiate level model United Nations organisation that is based in Cairo, Egypt. The CIMUN program is the oldest student activity on the American University in Cairo (AUC) campus and is cur ...
* Astronomy Club * AUC Times Magazine * Khatwa * TEDxAUC: AUC's platform for Ideas Worth Spreading *Egyptology Association *Philosophy Club * Volunteers in Action *ICGE club


Dormitories and student housing

Dormitories and student housing are located on AUC's New Cairo campus. Housing is organized by the AUC's Office of Residential Life, helping students transition to living independently and adjusting to university life as well as organizing social events. The residence is composed of 12 units, divided into five male and seven female cottages.


Notable alumni

* Aida el Ayoubi, singer, songwriter and guitarist. *
Amr Waked Amr Waked ( ar, عمرو واكد ; born ) is an Egyptian film, television and stage actor. He is best known to international audiences and in Hollywood for his role in the 2005 film ''Syriana''. Other prominent roles include a Yemeni Sheikh calle ...
, actor *
Anne Aly Anne Azza Aly (born Azza Mahmoud Fawzi Hosseini Ali el Serougi, 1967) is an Australian politician who has been a Labor member of the House of Representatives since the 2016 election, representing the electorate of Cowan in Western Australia. ...
, Australian political scholar, academic and counter-terrorism expert. *
Anthony Shadid Anthony Shadid (September 26, 1968 – February 16, 2012) was a foreign correspondent for ''The New York Times'' based in Baghdad and Beirut who won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting twice, in 2004 and 2010.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
; Best-Selling Author and Two-Time
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
Winner. * Asser Yassin, (BSME) Egyptian actor * Ben Wedeman, senior international correspondent,
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
*
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, Romanian minister, diplomat, political scientist and journalist *
David M. Malone David M. Malone, born in 1954, is a Canadian author on international security and development, as well as a career diplomat. He is a former president of the International Peace Institute, and a frequently quoted expert on international affairs, e ...
, Canadian diplomat * Devin J. Stewart, professor at
Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
* Haifa Al-Mansour,
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
's first female filmmaker * Hassan Abdalla, CEO and Vice Chairman of Arab African International Bank. *
Hisham Abbas Mohammad Hisham Mahmoud Mohammad Abbas ( ar, محمد هشام محمود محمد عباس; born September 13, 1963), commonly known as just Hisham Abbas , is an Egyptian pop singer best known for his hit song " Habibi Dah (Nari Narain)" and hi ...
, (ME) singer *
Nadeen Ashraf Nadeen Ashraf ( ar, نادين اشرف; born 12 March 1998) is an Egyptian feminist activist. Her use of social media instigated the #MeToo movement within Egypt. She is part of the BBC's 100 Women of 2020 list. Biography Ashraf was born ...
, feminist activist *
Jaweed al-Ghussein Jaweed al-Ghussein (18 July 1930 – 1 July 2008) was a Palestinian educationist and philanthropist. Early years Born in Gaza City, Gaza in 1930, into one of the most prominent Palestinian families. A refugee in 1948 he went to Cairo Egypt with h ...
, a Palestinian educationist and philanthropist *
John O. Brennan John Owen Brennan (born September 22, 1955) is a former American intelligence officer who served as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from March 2013 to January 2017. He served as chief counterterrorism advisor to U.S. Presi ...
,
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) is a statutory office () that functions as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which in turn is a part of the United States Intelligence Community. Beginning February 2017, the D ...
*
Juan Cole John Ricardo Irfan "Juan" Cole (born October 23, 1952) is an American academic and commentator on the modern Middle East and South Asia. Dead link; no archive located. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University ...
, American scholar, public intellectual, and historian of the modern Middle East and South Asia. Currently Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. * Khaled al-Qazzaz activist, educator, former civil servant in Egypt *
Khaled Bichara Khaled Bichara ( ar, خالد بشارة, ) (July 27, 1971 – January 31, 2020) was an Egyptian businessman and entrepreneur who served as the chairman of link.net and chief executive officer of Accelero Capital. Prior to joining Accelero Capit ...
, CEO of
Orascom Telecom Global Telecom Holding S.A.E. (GTH; formerly Orascom Telecom Holding) is a holding company based in Amsterdam, and a subsidiary of the multinational telecommunications services company VEON. GTH previously owned mobile network operators in multipl ...
and founder of
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* Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, president of the
Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...
from 1978 to 2008 *
Maya Morsy Maya Morsy ( ar, مايا مرسي) is an Egyptian political scientist and specialist in public policy and an advocate for Women and Human Rights. She is an elected President of Egypt's National Council for Women (NCW) on 1 February 2016 to Date ...
, head of Egypt's National Council for Women *
Melanie Craft Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American business magnate and investor who is the co-founder, executive chairman, chief technology officer (CTO) and former chief executive officer (CEO) of the American computer technology ...
, romance novelist,
Larry Ellison Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American business magnate and investor who is the co-founder, executive chairman, chief technology officer (CTO) and former chief executive officer (CEO) of the American computer technology ...
's Wife (
Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. The company sells da ...
CEO) * Mona El-Shazly, Egyptian talk show host *
Mona Eltahawy Mona Eltahawy ( ar, منى الطحاوى, ; born August 1, 1967) is a freelance Egyptian-American journalist and social commentator based in New York City. She has written essays and op-eds for publications worldwide on Egypt and the Islamic w ...
, journalist * Muin Bseiso, poet and activist *
Nabil Fahmi Nabil Fahmi (born 5 January 1951) is an Egyptian diplomat and politician who served in the government of Egypt as minister of foreign affairs from June 2013 to July 2014. Early life and education Nabil Fahmi was born in New York on 5 January 195 ...
, Ex Egyptian foreign minister *
Nicholas Kristof Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959) is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times''. Born in Chicago, Kristof wa ...
, Op-Ed Columnist,
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
; Best-Selling Author and Two-Time
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
Winner. *
Noha Radwan Noha Mohamed Radwan is an assistant professor of Arabic and comparative literature at the University of California, Davis. She was an Egyptian literary scholar and assistant professor of Arabic Literature at Columbia University and has also taught ...
, professor of Arabic literature at the
University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
*
Omar Samra Omar Samra (born 11 August 1978) is a British-born Egyptian adventurer, entrepreneur and speaker. He is the first Egyptian to climb Mount Everest, the 7 Summits and ski to both the Geographic South and North Pole (the Explorers Grand Slam). He i ...
, first Egyptian to climb
Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...
* Rana al-Tonsi, poet *
Rana el Kaliouby Rana el Kaliouby ( ar, رنا القليوبي; born 1978) is an Egyptian-American computer scientist and entrepreneur in the field of expression recognition research and technology development, which is a subset of facial recognition designed t ...
, Research Scientist at
MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...
and Founder of
Affectiva Affectiva is a software company that builds artificial intelligence. The company claims its AI understands human emotions, cognitive states, activities and the objects people use, by analyzing facial and vocal expressions. An offshoot of MIT Media ...
*
Rania al Abdullah Rania Al-Abdullah ( ar, رانيا العبد الله, ; born Rania Al-Yassin, 31 August 1970) is Queen of Jordan as the wife of King Abdullah II. Rania was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. She received her bachelor's degree in busines ...
, queen of
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
. * Shahab Ahmed, Pakistani-American scholar of
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
; Author of '' What is Islam?'' * Yosri Fouda, editor and host/presenter on Akher Kalam, a talk show on ONTV *
Thomas Friedman Thomas Loren Friedman (; born July 20, 1953) is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for ''The New York Times''. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global ...
, Op-Ed Columnist,
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
; Best-Selling Author and Three-Time
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
Winner. *
Yousef Gamal El-Din Yousef Gamal El-Din ( ar, يوسف جمال الدين) (born October 15, 1985) is an Egyptian-Swiss news anchor and author. Since 2016, he was the host of Bloomberg Television's ''Bloomberg Markets: Middle East''. Previously he worked for CNBC, ...
, anchor,
Bloomberg Television Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is head ...
{{cite web, last1=Bloomberg’s latest primetime show from the Dubai International Financial Centre, title=Yousef Gamal El-Din Joins Bloomberg Television As New Anchor Of 'Bloomberg Markets: Middle East', url=https://www.bloomberg.com/company/announcements/yousef-gamal-el-din-joins-bloomberg-television-new-anchor-bloomberg-markets-middle-east/, website=Bloomberg L.P., language=en, date=15 June 2016 *
Yuriko Koike is a Japanese politician who currently serves as the Governor of Tokyo since 2016. She graduated from the American University in Cairo in 1976 and was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan from 1993 until 2016, when she resigned to ...
, former Japanese Minister of Defense and first female governor of
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
* Yussef El Guindi, playwright *
Sigrid Kaag Sigrid Agnes Maria Kaag (; born 2 November 1961) is a Dutch diplomat and politician, serving as List of Ministers of Finance of the Netherlands, Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands, First Deputy Prime Minister in the ...
, Dutch minister and diplomat * Fadwa El Gallal, journalist


Notable faculty

*
Galal Amin Galal Ahmad Amin ( ar, جلال أمين; 1935 – 25 September 2018) was an award-winning professor of economics at the American University in Cairo and Egyptian economist and commentator.Michael R. Fischbach, 'Amin, Galal (1935-)', in ''Biog ...
(1935-2018), economist and commentator *
Aliaa Bassiouny Aliaa Ibrahim Bassiouny is Associate Professor of Finance (with tenure) and Chair of the Department of Management at the American University in Cairo. Dr. Bassiouny holds a BBA and an MBA both with a specialization in finance from the American ...
, professor and chair of the Finance department *
Emma Bonino Emma Bonino (born 9 March 1948) is an Italian politician. A senator for Rome, she served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2014. Previously, she was a Member of the European Parliament and a member of the Chamber of Deputies. She serve ...
(born 1948), Italian former Commissioner of the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) *
Shems Friedlander Shems Friedlander (January 8, 1940 - November 22, 2022) was an American Islamic scholar, Sufi master, visual artist, filmmaker, author and an emeritus professor of practice at the American University in Cairo. He was best known for his works on ...
, American emeritus professor and Sufi master *
Graham Harman Graham Harman (born May 9, 1968) is an American philosopher and academic. He is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. His work on the metaphysics of objects led to the developme ...
(born 1968), American contemporary philosopher of metaphysics *
Fayza Haikal Fayza Mohamed Hussein Haikal (born 1938) is a professor emerita of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo and the first Egyptian woman to earn a PhD in Egyptology. Education and career Haikal was born on April 11, 1938; her father w ...
, emerita professor of Egyptology *
Salima Ikram Salima Ikram ( ur, سلیمہ اکرام; born 17 May 1965) is a Pakistani professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, a participant in many Egyptian archaeological projects, the author of several books on Egyptian archaeology, a ...
, Egyptologist and expert on animal mummies *
Heba Kotb Heba Kotb ( ar, هبة قطب; born September 19, 1967) is an Egyptian certified sex therapist and host of ''The Big Talk'', a sexual advice show airing in Egypt. The first licensed sexologist in the country, Kotb bases her methods on the teachin ...
(born 1967), sex therapist and host of ''The Big Talk'', a sexual advice show * Jehane Ragai, chemist *
Kent Weeks Kent R. Weeks (born December 16, 1941) is an American Egyptologist. Biography He was born in Everett, Washington, on December 16, 1941. He remembers deciding to be an Egyptologist at the age of eight. Weeks attended R. A. Long High School in L ...
(born 1941), American Egyptologist, launched the
Theban Mapping Project The Theban Mapping Project is an archaeological expedition devoted to Ancient Egypt. It was established in 1978 by the Egyptologist Dr. Kent R. Weeks at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1985, it was moved to the American University in Cair ...
, which discovered the identity and vast dimensions of KV5, the tomb of the sons of
Rameses II Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded as t ...
in the
Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...
*
Lawrence Wright Lawrence Wright (born August 2, 1947) is an American writer and journalist, who is a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' magazine, and fellow at the Center for Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. Wright is best known as th ...
(born 1947), American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author * Moustafa Youssef, Computer science and engineering professor, first and only ACM Fellow in the Middle East and Africa


See also

{{Portal, Egypt, United States *
AUC Press The American University in Cairo Press (AUCP, AUC Press) is the leading English-language publisher in the Middle East. The largest translator of Arabic literature in the world, AUC Press has a reputation for carefully selecting and translating t ...
*
American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...
(AUB) *
American University in Dubai The American University in Dubai (AUD) ( ar, الجامعة الأمريكية في دبي) is a private, non-sectarian institution of higher learning in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, founded in 1995. AUD is accredited regionally as a separate u ...
(AUD) *
American University of Sharjah American University of Sharjah (abbreviated AUS; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية في الشارقة) is a private university in the United Arab Emirates. It was founded in 1997 by Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and ...
(AUS) * American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) *
Cairo International Model United Nations Cairo International Model United Nations (CIMUN) is a collegiate level model United Nations organisation that is based in Cairo, Egypt. The CIMUN program is the oldest student activity on the American University in Cairo (AUC) campus and is cur ...


References

{{reflist


External links

{{Commons category, American University in Cairo * {{Official website {{Universities in Egypt {{Global Liberal Arts Alliance {{Triple accreditation {{Association of African Universities {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:American University in Cairo Education in Cairo Educational institutions established in 1919 English as a global language 1919 establishments in Egypt Research institutes in Egypt Science and technology in Egypt Nanotechnology centers in Egypt