John Waterbury is an American academic and former president of the
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 ...
.
Early years
Born in
, Waterbury attended
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
(BA 1961), studied Arabic at the
American University of Cairo
The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs ...
(1961–62), and got his PhD in political science in 1968 at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. He went on to 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 ...
as assistant professor of political science.
Career
In 1971 he joined the American Universities Field Staff, a consortium of American Universities, which he represented 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 ...
from 1971 to 1977. His monographs for AUFS were tops among his contemporaries and he became a leading source about life and politics in Egypt for academic and government specialists for half-a-decade.. The quality of these publications led directly to his appointment at the W.Wilson School of Public and International Affairs cited below. In the winter of 1972, he was a visiting professor at the AUFS facility in Rome. During 1977-78 he was visiting professor at the
University of Aix-Marseille III in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
He was then, for nearly twenty years, professor of politics and international affairs at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
's
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...
. He specialized in the political economy of the developing countries with a special focus on the Middle East. He was director of Princeton's
Center of International Studies
The Center of International Studies (CIS) was a research center that was part of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in Princeton, New Jersey. It was founded in 1951 by six scholars who came to Princeto ...
and editor of the academic journal ''
World Politics The terms "world politics" or "global politics" may refer to:
*Geopolitics, the study of the effects of geography on politics and International Relations (IR)
*Global politics, a discipline of political science which focuses on political globalizati ...
'' from 1992 to 1998.
In 1998, Waterbury became the 14th president of the
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 ...
, a post he held until 2008.
Chicago professor named president of American University of Beirut
He was the first president to reside in Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
since 1984. During his tenure at AUB, Waterbury sought to restore the university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
to its long-standing place and reputation as an institution of higher learning meeting the highest international standards. AUB offered Waterbury an Honorary Doctorate during his last commencement exercises at the university in recognition of his achievements. University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
Egyptologist Peter Dorman
Peter FitzGerald Dorman (born 1948) is an epigrapher, philologist, and Egyptologist. Recently a professor of history and archaeology at the American University of Beirut (AUB), he served as the 15th President of the university from 2008 to 2015. H ...
succeeded him as the 15th president of AUB on July 1, 2008.
He is now a Global Professor of Political Science in New York University (Abu Dhabi).
Works
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waterbury, John
Heads of universities and colleges in the United States
American University of Beirut faculty
University of Michigan faculty
Princeton University faculty
Columbia University alumni
Living people
American University of Beirut trustees
Princeton University alumni
New York University Abu Dhabi faculty
Year of birth missing (living people)