American University in Cairo Swears In Its First-Ever Arab President

The American University in Cairo (AUC) has sworn in its first Arab president, Ahmad S. Dallal, after an extensive search following former president Francis Ricciardone's resignation. Hailing from Lebanon, Dallal is an accomplished scholar and leading academic figure with a storied intellectual career between the United States and the Middle East.

Dallal has refined his academic and administrative acumen through decades of leadership, research and teaching at top universities in the United States, teaching at Stanford, Yale, Smith and Georgetown University, as well as regional academic experience as provost at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and dean of Georgetown University in Qatar.

The president’s vision for AUC’s next century is centred on harvesting the power of collective investment for educational innovation. “In the days ahead, we will chart our future together, and we will decide collectively on the new fields in which we can and should make meaningful contributions,” Dallal announced during his inauguration speech. “To name just a few, we will build our contributions to the fields of data science and artificial intelligence; urban studies; environmental studies; the water, food and energy nexus; and the range of cultural studies in a country which has contributed so much to human civilization.”

With his extensive background in academia across the Middle East and United States, Dallal is seen as uniquely qualified to lead the American University in Cairo, one of the leading regional establishments in higher education.