American University in Cairo

The American University in Cairo

الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة
File:The American University in Cairo crest.png
Motto	Catalyst for Change
Type	Private
Established	1919
President	Lisa Anderson
Provost	Medhat Haroun
Academic staff	Full-time 423 Part-Time 358
Students	6,824
Undergraduates	5244
Postgraduates	1,259
Location	Cairo , Egypt
Campus	New Cairo, Egypt (Main Campus) and Tahrir Square (Downtown Campus)
Website	www.aucegypt.edu

The American University in Cairo (AUC) is an independent, non-profit, apolitical and secular institution for higher education located in Cairo, Egypt. The university provides American liberal arts education to the students from all socio-economic backgrounds in Egypt and other nations around the world contributing substantially towards Egypt’s intellectual and cultural life.

The university offers American style learning programs at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels, along with an extensive continuing education program. The university promotes American education, professional education, and lifelong learning.

The AUC student body represents over 100 countries and includes over 300 North American study abroad students. 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.

Historical Development of the University

The American University in Cairo was founded in 1919 by American Mission in Egypt, sponsored by the United Presbyterian Church of North America. It was dedicated to the cultural enrichment and modernization of Egypt.

For the initial 27 years, the university was shaped by its founding president, Dr. Charles A. Watson. The vision was to create an English-language university based on high standards of conduct and scholarship in order to contribute towards the intellectual growth, discipline, and character of the future leaders of Egypt and the region.

Originally, AUC was intended to be both a preparatory school and a university. The preparatory school opened to 142 students on October 5, 1920 in the former minister of education, Ahmad Khairy Pasha’s palace built in 1860’s and known as Khairy Pasha palace, . The first diplomas issued were junior college-level certificates given to 20 students in 1923.

Initially, AUC was intended only for males and the university’s first female student, Eva Habib Masri, was enrolled in 1928. That same year, the first university class graduated with two Bachelor of Arts and one Bachelor of Science degrees awarded to the students. Master's degrees were offered only in 1950.

In 1951, the last class of preparatory students graduated, and AUC officially became university-level institution. It was also in this decade that the government of Egypt claimed that the university's original name, The American University at Cairo, diminished the city. Accordingly, the university changed its name, substituting "at" with "in."

The university expanded its academic offerings; The Social Science Research Center was established in 1953. In 1956, the School of Oriental Studies was incorporated into the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as The Center for Arabic Studies and The English Language Institute was established. University degree work was consolidated into The Faculty of Arts and Sciences where programs in sociology, anthropology, political science, economics and an expanded natural sciences program were added to the curriculum.

Another landmark in the history of the university was the progression of educational programs to include the departments of engineering, computer science, journalism and mass communication, and management.

Though partially funded by the United States, various anti-American incidents on campus since the 2011 Riots that brought down Hosni Mubarak, and a failure to react officially to the 9/11/2012 death of US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens has discomforted many Americans with ties to the school.

The American University in Cairo Press was established in 1960; today, it publishes up to 1,000 books annually. It is regarded as the Arab world's top English language publishing house.

In 1960, AUC enrolled approximately 400 academic students. By 1969, the university had tripled its degree enrollments. Within this period, the university opened the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA), which attracted students from around the world who wish to study Arabic. Adult education expanded simultaneously and now serves approximately tens of thousands of individuals each year in non-credit courses and contracted training programs.

The Desert Development Center was established in 1979 by AUC as a center for applied research and training to promote sustainable development in Egypt's reclaimed desert areas. Growth continued throughout the 1980s and it was during this time that the Middle States Commission on Higher Education granted full accreditation to AUC. AUC's first bookstore opened in 1985.

In 1993, the academic programs offered through 13 departments were organized into three schools:

• Humanities and Social Sciences;

• Sciences and Engineering; and

• Business, Economics and Communication

In 2007, the university's Center for Adult and Continuing Education was renamed as the School of Continuing Education and in 2008, Adham Center for TV Journalism was renamed the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism, Training and Research.

In 2009, the university added three more schools with different academics:

• The Graduate School of Education,

• The School of Business and

• The School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP)

The founding dean for GAPP is Ambassador Nabil Fahmy, former Egyptian ambassador to the United States and an AUC alumnus.

AUC Campus History

Tahrir Square Campus

AUC was originally established in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. The 7.8-acre Tahrir Square campus was developed around the Khairy Pasha Palace. Built in the neo-Malmuk style, the palace inspired an architectural style that has been replicated throughout Cairo. 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 structure was designed by A. St. John Diament, abutting the southside of the Palace. The central portion of the building houses an auditorium large enough to seat 1,200, with 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 centerpiece of the new building is Oriental Hall, an auditorium and reception room built and decorated in an adaptation of traditional styles, yet responsive to the architectural style of their own time.

In the fall of 2008, AUC officially inaugurated AUC New Cairo, a new 260-acre suburban campus in New Cairo, 45 minutes away from the downtown campus. New Cairo is a development comprising 46,000 acres of land and with a projected population of 2.5 million people. AUC New Cairo provides advanced facilities for research and learning, as well as all the modern resources 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. The university 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. Additionally, campus spaces serve as virtual laboratories for the study of desert development, biological sciences and the symbiotic relationship between environment and community.

Most university administrative offices are housed in the Administration Building. This includes the offices of the President, Provost and senior administration offices.

The Abdul Latif Jameel Hall is home to the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training and Research. Facilities include executive training rooms, computer labs, fully equipped video editing and production labs, and specialized labs for graphics, multimedia, radio broadcasting and newspaper production. Abdul Latif Jameel Hall also houses the Heikal Department of Management, the Mohamed Shafik Gabr Economics Department, the Office of Graduate Students Services and the Sony Gallery.

The home of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Hall, features labs for psychology and Egyptology and computer-assisted language labs. The AUC Center for the Arts houses an art gallery; 300-seat theater; labs for electronic music and photography; studios for drawing, painting, sculpture and theater design; and studios for music and film editing and production. The School of Sciences and Engineering features spacious, sophisticated labs in every major scientific discipline and a range of specialized fields, from microbiology to systematics, from microprocessors to polymers, from energy systems to soils. Other highlights include an animal facility, greenhouse, herbarium and structural testing facility.

File:Campus in New Cairo.jpg

Campus in New Cairo

Within the Research Centers Building is 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 Hameel 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 Haten and Hanet Mostafa Core Academic Center, along with the Mansour Group Lecture Hall and curriculum offices.

There are two theaters within the AUC Center for the Arts, including the Malak Gabr Arts Theater and the Gerhart Theater, as well as the Sharjah Art Gallery and offices for the Department of Performing and Visual Arts.

AUC New Campus

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 offices for student offices, 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 indoor athletic complex, 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.

The campus also features the Conference and Visitor Center where the 1,400-seat Bassily Auditorium is located, along with the 200-seat Moataz Al Alfi Hall, and smaller lecture halls and meeting rooms.

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 is all from a single quarry in Kom Ombo, 50 kilometers north of Aswan. 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.

AUC New Cairo

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.

All of the all trees, shrubs and plants—with the exception of the date palms—were propagated and grown at AUC’s Desert Development Center. Many of the trees shade the campus’s 2,000-plus parking places. The total number of date palms is 1,216 and there are a total number of 6,970 trees. In addition, there are 27 fountains, pools and water features.

The Urban Land Institute recognized AUC’s new campus design and construction with a special award recognizing its energy efficiency, its architecture, its capacity for community development. The campus is host to more than 30 undergraduate programs and 15 graduate programs. It offers six schools, including the newly inaugurated Graduate School of Education, the School of Business, and the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, and ten research centers.

Margaret Scobey, US Ambassador to Egypt, was among the guests at the inauguration in February 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.

The downtown campus at Tahrir Square is currently being transformed into a cultural center. It includes a new branch of the AUC Bookstore, a café and the Margo Veillon Gallery for Contemporary Egyptian Art.

Governance and Administration

American University in Cairo is an independent educational institution governed by a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees. In addition, there is a panel of trustees emeriti that 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. The Board of Trustees reviews and approves all the major policies, budget, facilities and program development plans for the university.

The university is administered by a President selected by the Board of Trustees. In 2010, the members of the Board voted unanimously to appoint Provost Lisa Anderson as the 11th AUC President, making her the first woman in the presidential role since the university was founded. An ex-officio member of the Board, Anderson assumed the presidency on January 1, 2011.

The President’s cabinet includes the Provost, Vice President and Executive Secretary of the Board of Trustees, Vice President for Planning and Administration, Vice President for Student Affairs, a Counselor acting as a liaison between the University and the Egyptian Government, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, and Vice President for Finance. The President is also advised by the University Senate and Senior Administrators. The Provost is advised by the Provost’s Council, which includes university deans and a vice provost.

Names of Presidents and Tenures

• Lisa Anderson (2011–present)
• David C. Arnold (2003–2011)
• John D. Gerhart (1998–2003)
• Donald McDonald (1990–1997)
• Richard F. Pederson (1977–1990)
• Cecil K. Byrd (1974–1977)
• Christopher Thoron (1969–1974)
• Thomas A. Bartlett (1963–1969)
• Raymond F. McLain (1954–1963)
• John S. Badeau (1944–1953)
• Charles Watson (1919–1944)

Academics

AUC offers undergraduate programs and graduate programs, as well as continuing education opportunities within its schools and research centers. 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. The university’s objective of promoting international understanding is supported by means of scholarships, learned discourse, a multicultural campus environment and The American University in Cairo Press.

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. In the United States, AUC is licensed to grant degrees and is incorporated by the State of Delaware.

Undergraduate and Graduate Schools

• School of Business
• School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• School of Global Affairs and Public Policy
• School of Sciences and Engineering
• School of Continuing Education
• Graduate School of Education

Research Centers

• Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D)
• AUC Forum
• Center for Migration and Refugee Studies
• Center for Translation Studies
• Cynthia Nelson Institute for Gender and Women's Studies
• Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations
• Desert Development Center (DDC)
• Economic and Business History Research Center
• El-Khazindar Business Research and Case Center
• John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement
• John D. Gerhart Field Station in El Gouna
• Middle East Studies Center
• Prince Alwaleed American Studies Center
• Research Advisory Council
• Social Research Center
• Office of Institutional Research
• Office of the Associate Provost for Research Administration
• Office of Sponsored Programs
• Yousef Jameel Science and Technology Research Center (YJ-STRC)

Rankings

Tahrir Square (Downtown Campus)

In the 2010 QS World University Rankings, The American University in Cairo was amongst the top 600 universities worldwide, with its life sciences programs ranked joint 209th globally.
AUC was placed among the best business school in Africa and the Middle East in the 2010 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report.

Campus life

The American University in Cairo fosters a dynamic and multicultural co-curricular life on campus through programs and services offered by the division of Student of Affairs. Under the leadership of the Vice President, Student Affairs provides essential student services in the Offices of Enrollment Services, Admission, Student Financial Affairs, Career Advising and Placement Services (CAPS), and facilitates relevant student programs and leadership opportunities through The First Year Experience (orientation), International Student Affairs, Counseling Center, Mentoring Unit, Residential Life, Office of Student Development and Sports. International students find campus life to be lacking.

Student Activities are facilitated by the Office of Student Development within the context of university policy and the constitution of the General Assembly of the Student Body. The Office of Student Development includes three units: Student Organizations Activities, Community Service, and Cultural Programs.

Student life programs include:

• Student Associations and Clubs

• Student-Organized Conferences

• The Community Service Program

• Cultural Activities

• Lectures and Concerts

• Theatre

• Films

• Student Publications

• Sports

AUC’s New Cairo campus is convenient for students wishing to explore the historic and cultural offerings of Cairo and the Nile. Its location affords the AUC community easy access to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. On weekends, students can enjoy travel to the Red Sea, Luxor, Alexandria and even to Rome, Istanbul, Tunis, Beirut, and Athens.

Residential Life

Students have a choice of housing options: They can reside in new housing cottages located on the New Cairo campus. There is also a dormitory in Zamalek—a small island on the Nile in downtown Cairo—located about 45 minutes from the campus.

Student associations, clubs, and conferences

Probably the biggest distinctive factor that sets apart AUC from other academic institutions in the region, is its vibrant and dynamic student base. Most of the student activities at AUC are large scale activities organized by the students, to the students and for the students. These activities encompass a wide variety of social, political, and economic issues. And all participating students get to have a first row seat at experiencing post university life by being involved in theses activities. Such activities include but are not limited to:

• The Student Union
• Theater and Film Club
• Model Business Association
• Model United Nations
• Model African Union
• Model Arab League
• Model Council of Ministers
• AIESEC
• The International Conference on Global Economy
• The International Student Leadership Conference
• The Help Club
• Glow
• Petroleum Club (PC)
• Alashanek Ya Balady (For my country)
• Al-Quds Club
• Volunteers in Action
• Friends in Need
• The Anti Cancer Team
• The Safari Club
• Hand in Hand
• The Political Science Association
• Entrepreneur's Society
• Finance Club
• Mechanical Engineering Club (MEC)
• Astronomy Club
• The Psychology Club
• Shutter Stoppers

Early religious controversies

Some Egyptians did not welcome the creation of a Western-based university, whose religious ties made it suspect. Missionaries and their practices of conversion were not well received. There were several controversies that surrounded the AUC which fueled the fire that it was related to the Protestant missionary movement. In 1932, a Muslim student reported that he had been kidnapped by members of the AUC faculty with the hope of converting him, but was later released. The Egyptian press utilized this as a chance to lash out at the university. A few months later, a Muslim student failed his course and accused the AUC of using missionary tactics and degrading Islam. This was followed by another round of harsh critiques from local press. While the details of these stories were at best exaggerated and at worst completely false, it is true that prior to the 1920s the Dean of the AUC was admittedly supportive of evangelism and classes on Bible-studying were necessary for all students.

Additionally, there were issues between the founder of the university Charles A. Watson and those in the United States who wanted to see evangelicalism play a larger role in the AUC's goals. In 1922, after years of writing that the university should be more missionary-based, Reverend J.R. Alexander met with Watson. Their meeting created an even bigger divide between the goals that Watson had for the university and the goals that the United Presbyterian Church of North America had for the university. Eventually, in 1926, they came to some understanding that it simply was not possible for the AUC to maintain such close religious ties and be taken seriously within Egypt. Watson was becoming increasingly aware that the best that they can hope to achieve in Egypt is to promote the imitation of good moral and ethical behavior. This realization by Watson allowed the university to grow without the potential religious problems in the future.

Notable alumni

• Rania al Abdullah, HM The Queen of Jordan.
• Juan Cole, American scholar, public intellectual, and historian of the modern Middle East and South Asia
• Nicholas Kristoff, journalist
• Wael Ghonim, Google executive, social activist, social entrepreneur
• Shams Elwazer, Senior Producer, CNN
• Mona Eltahawy, journalist
• Mona El-Shazly,Egyptian talk show host
• Princess Muzna Al-Qu'aiti of Hadhramaut
• Yousef Gamal El-Din, regional correspondent and host of Access: Middle East, CNBC Europe
• Aida el Ayoubi, Famous Egyptian singer, songwriter and guitarist.
• Tarek Amer, deputy governor of Egypt's Central Bank
• Khaled Bichara, CEO of Orascom Telecom and founder of LinkDOTNet
• Omar Samra, First Egyptian to climb Mount Everest
• Dan Stoenescu, Romanian diplomat, political scientist and journalist
• Haifa Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia's first female filmmaker
• Hisham Abbas, singer,
• Yuriko Koike, former Japanese Minister of Defense
• Melanie Craft, Romance Novelist, Larry Ellison's Wife (Oracle Corporation CEO)
• Suzanne Alaywan, poet and artist
• Gigi Ibrahim, journalist and political activist

Notable professors

• Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author
• Salima Ikram, leading Egyptologist and expert on animal mummies
• Kent Weeks, leading Egyptologist, launched the Theban Mapping Project, which discovered the identity and