American University of Beirut

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American University of Beirut
الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت
Motto: That they may have life and have it more abundantly.
Established 1866
Type: Private
President: John Waterbury
Provost: Peter Heath
Staff: 586
Students: 7,289 (2005-06)
Undergraduates: 5,778
Postgraduates: 1,511
Location Lebanese flag Beirut, Lebanon
Campus: Urban, 73 acre
Website: www.aub.edu.lb

The American University of Beirut (AUB; Arabic: الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, independent university in Beirut, Lebanon. Founded as the Syrian Protestant College by American missionaries (Dr. Daniel Bliss) in 1866. The name was changed to the American University of Beirut on November 18, 1920.

AUB's current president and provost respectively are Dr. John Waterbury and Dr. Peter Heath.

At the end of July 2002, the number of degrees and diplomas awarded since June 1870 totaled 66,107.[citation needed]

Contents

In 1862, American missionaries in Syria, under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, asked Dr. Daniel Bliss to withdraw from evangelistic work and missions in Syria (under Ottoman rule, modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine were part of Greater Syria) to found a college of higher learning with an American educational character, self-maintained and administered independently from the Mission, that would include medical training.

Dr. Bliss traveled to the United States in the summer of 1862 to solicit funds for this new enterprise. By August, 1864, he had raised $100,000. However, because of inflation during the Civil War, he raised a sterling fund in England to start the operations of the college, leaving the dollar fund to appreciate. After collecting £4,000 in England, he traveled to Beirut in March, 1866.

On April 24, 1863, while Dr. Bliss was raising money for the new school, the State of New York granted a charter under the name of the Syrian Protestant College. The college opened with its first class of 16 students on December 3, 1866.[1]

The cornerstone of College Hall, the first building on the present campus in Ras Beirut, was laid on December 7, 1871, by the Honorable William E. Dodge, Sr., then Treasurer of the Board of Trustees. At this ceremony, President Daniel Bliss expressed the guiding principle of the college in these words:

“ This college is for all conditions and classes of men without regard to color, nationality, race or religion. A man, white, black, or yellow, Christian, Jew, Muslim or heathen, may enter and enjoy all the advantages of this institution for three, four or eight years; and go out believing in one God, in many gods, or in no God. But it will be impossible for anyone to continue with us long without knowing what we believe to be the truth and our reasons for that belief. ”

College Hall and the first medical building were completed and put to use in 1873, and the bell in the tower of College Hall pealed for the first time in March, 1874. However, College Hall was extensively damaged by an explosion in the early morning of November 8, 1991, and the building had to be demolished. It was later rebuilt, and the new College Hall was inaugurated in the spring of 1999.

AUB museum
AUB museum

Since its earliest years the University has continually expanded and developed new faculties and programs. In 1867, the University started the School of Medicine. Four years later, in 1871, both the school of pharmacy and a preparatory school were added. The latter became independent in 1960 and is currently known as International College. In 1900, the University established a school of commerce which was later incorporated into the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. When the hospital (currently the American University Hospital) opened in 1905, a school of nursing was also established. In 1910 the University opened a school of dentistry, which operated for thirty years. In the early years of the 1950s, several program expansions took place. The Faculty of Engineering and Architecture was established in 1951; the Faculty of Agriculture, now the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, opened its doors in 1952; and, finally, the School of Public Health, now the Faculty of Health Sciences, was started in 1954.

On November 18, 1920, the Board of Regents of the State University of New York changed the name of the institution from the Syrian Protestant College to the American University of Beirut after the establishment of the state of Greater Lebanon in August 1920; other charter amendments expanded the functions of the University. All presidents of the University have been in residence at Marquand House, which was completed in 1879.

At the end of July 2002, the number of degrees and diplomas awarded since June 1870 totaled 66,107.

Part of the upper campus as seen from Penrose dorm
Part of the upper campus as seen from Penrose dorm

The 73-acre AUB campus is on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on one side and bordering Bliss Street on the other. Bliss Street has many restaurants and is popular among university students. Since AUB's campus is a closed campus, it is only possible to enter the university through gates, namely Main Gate (facing Bliss Street), Medical Gate (near the American University Hospital), and Sea Gate (at the foot of the hill).

The Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences' Agricultural Research and Education Center (AREC), a 247-acre research farm and educational facility, is located in the Beqaa Valley.

Famous landmarks on campus include College Hall, West Hall, the Oval, Nicely Hall, Assembly Hall (church) and the Green Field.

In 2003, Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal donated US$ 5.5 million to set up the Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR). The center holds lectures and workshops on American issues and offers, as of September 2004, a minor in American Studies.

In 2002, former US Diplomat and AUB Alumnus Charles Hostler donated US$ 11.7 million to build the Charles W. Hostler Student Center, a state-of-the-art sports facility. It is currently under construction and is expected to be completed by September 2007.

Also under construction is the new home of the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business on the lower campus of the university. It is slated for completion in 2007.

The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs which was made possible by a US$ 5.2 million donation from Issam Fares, a former Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon, will be built on middle campus replacing the Gulbenkian Infirmary. The building was designed by AUB alumnus and world renowned architect Zaha Hadid.

AUB is planning to relaunch its PhD programs in Arabic, Middle Eastern Studies, Biology, and Chemistry for the first time since they were suspended during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). Its masters degree in Middle Eastern Studies which is offered by the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (CAMES) is considered one of the best in the world.

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education accorded AUB accreditation on June 25, 2004 after an extensive institutional self-study. It was also the first time that the Middle States Commission conducted a peer team visit to an institution by video conferencing.

By May 2007, AUB's Campaign for Excellence had already surpassed its goal of US$ 140 million by its 140th anniversary 31 December 2007. While relatively modest by US standards, a campaign of this magnitude and success sets a new standard for higher education fund raising in the middle east.

The Reconstructed College Hall at AUB
The Reconstructed College Hall at AUB
  • On June 19, 1982, "the president of the American University in Beirut, David S. Dodge was kidnapped. Foreign special services are believed to be behind this abduction and that of most of the other 30 Westerners seized over the next 10 years."[2]
  • Dr. Malcolm Kerr, the ninth president and father of Steve Kerr, was assassinated on January 18, 1984.
  • On November 11, 1991, AUB's main administration building, College Hall, was the target of a bomb that demolished it. The bomb toppled its famous clock tower, which, for a century and a quarter, had been the symbol of the institution. It was rebuilt and re-inaugurated in 1999.[citation needed]
  • Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture (Raymond Ghosn) and the Dean of Student Affairs (Robert Najemy) were assassinated on February 17, 1976 by an irate American engineering student, Gavin Harris, who failed to graduate. The Engineering building now carries the name of Dean Ghosn.[citation needed]

AUB graduates are known worldwide, and many alumni have attained high position in almost every field: Government, Science, Economics, Business, Medicine. AUB graduates are part of the Lebanese political scene: Former Prime minister Saeb Salam and former Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Adil Osseiran, who were leaders in the independence movement after the french mandate, were AUB graduates. Other famous politicians include Prime Ministers Selim al-Hoss, Najib Mikati, and Fouad Siniora, in addition to an endless list of ministers and members of parliament. AUB also boasts being the breeding ground for Arab thinkers such as Constantin Zurayk, and Antun Saadeh, the founder of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Other famous politicians include Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, former minister in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Abdul Rahman Shahbandar, the anti-French nationalist of the 1920s and 1930s, along with former president Nazim al-Kudsi and prime minister Faris al-Khuri, who was also an instructor at AUB.

The Syrian poet Omar Abu Risheh is an AUB graduate, and so is the novelist Ghada al-Samman. When the UN was founded in 1945, the Lebanese and Syrian delegations were made up of former AUB students. In fact, with 19 alumni among the delegates for the founding of the United Nations, AUB was the most represented university in the world in that meeting.[1]

Notable Alumni


Did Not Graduate

  • Albert Hourani one of the most prominent scholars of Middle Eastern history for much of the second half of the 20th century.
  • John Waterbury, President of the university and Professor of Political Science, former chairman of the department of Political Science at Princeton University
  • Elias Khoury , novelist and historian, author of Gate of the Sun
  • Tarif Khalidi , author and renowned Islamic Studies scholar, holder of Sheikh Zaid Chair of the Center for Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies (CAMS)
  • Karim Rebeiz, Ibrahim Raphael, Ziad el-Khoury, Elie Aoun, Henri Traboulsi, Jad Bou Monsef and last but not least Jamil Dibu: the proud founders of the Wonderlicious Septalogy of Fallot.

  1. ^ Kaplan, Robert D. The Arabists: The Romance of an American Elite. New York: The Free Press, 1993. ISBN 0-02-916785-X p. 35.
  2. ^ Ini, Gilead. "Timeline of Hezbollah Violence." On Campus Fall 2006: 13-14

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_University_of_Beirut"
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