John D. Gerhart
(1998 - 2003)
Dr. John D. Gerhart was the ninth president of the American University in Cairo. A native of Abilene, Texas, he received his BA from Harvard University and obtained his Masters and Doctoral degrees from Princeton University. He spent 29 years in the Africa and Middle East Program of the Ford Foundation, working in the fields of economics, agricultural development, and public administration before joining the University in September 1998. Dr. Gerhart committed an unparalleled amount of time and effort to strengthening AUC's academic programs and expanding student extracurricular activities. He began a historic fund- raising campaign that raised an unprecedented amount of money for the new campus and research and training programs at AUC.

Donald McDonald
(1990-1997)
 Donald McDonald, a civil engineer with degrees from Auburn University in Alabama and the University of Illinois, led AUC through continued expansion and recognition. He served as a faculty member for 17 years at Texas A & M, and in 1979, he was appointed head of civil engineering there. After that, he became provost, then vice president for academic affairs. In addition, McDonald had international academic experience before coming to AUC: he established a Texas A & M branch campus in Japan.

Richard F. Pedersen
(1977-1990)
 Richard F. Pedersen had studied at Stanford and received his doctorate from Harvard. A career diplomat, he was appointed United States ambassador to Hungary at 41. In addition, he had served as the Deputy US Representative in the United Nations Security Council and Counselor of the State Department under Secretary of State William Rogers. Also, Pedersen had been Senior Vice-President of US Trust Co., responsible for its international division, which gave him valuable experience in finance and investment management. Pedersen led AUC's curricular expansion and efforts to attain full accreditation in the United States.

Cecil K. Byrd
(1974-1977)
 Cecil K. Byrd came to AUC from Indiana University, where he had been the library director. In 1973, he was appointed Dean of the Faculties. President Thoron stepped down in 1974 due to illness, and Byrd was named acting president. His position was made permanent. Byrd advocated active personal participation in a variety of university affairs, and his administrative team was accessible to all.

Christopher Thoron
(1969-1974)
 Thoron was appointed acting president at 38. His appointment was at first temporary, but his outstanding performance as president the first year made his appointment official. Though not an academic, Thoron was a skilled United Nations diplomat and fluent in French and German. Through his exceptional diplomacy, Thoron began the complicated process of securing official Egyptian recognition for an AUC degree.

Thomas A. Bartlett
(1963-1969)
 Thomas A. Bartlett, 33 at the time of his appointment, had studied at Stanford University and Oxford, where he was a Rhodes scholar. After Oxford, he became an adviser to the United States delegation in the United Nations. Through his work on the Palestinian refugee issue, he became familiar with the Middle East. He was responsible for much expansion of and construction on the campus, including the purchase and remodeling of Greek Campus. In 2002, he returned to serve as Interim President.

Raymond F. McLain
(1954-1963)
 Raymond F. McLain, an Ohio native, pastored several Disciples of Christ churches there before his appointment as president of Eureka College in Illinois at age 31. Three years later, he became president of Transylvania College. At 49, he directed a study by the National Council of Churches on the nature and role of church-related colleges in the United States. At AUC he initiated a new organizational structure and arranged for the first Trustees meeting ever to be held in Cairo.

John S. Badeau
(1944-1953)
 In 1936, John S. Badeau was brought to AUC as the first Weyerhauser Professor of Ethics. Previously he had been trained as an engineer and worked as a missionary. In 1938, Badeau became Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In the fall of 1944 he was selected to succeed President Watson, at Watson's behest. Badeau developed the university's first five-year plan, and he was instrumental in the development in 1952 of the Social Research Center with a grant from the Ford Foundation.

Charles Watson
(1919-1944)
Charles Watson, AUC's inaugural president, grew up in Cairo. Watson received his B.A. from Princeton University, then studied at Ohio State and Lawrenceville before receiving a degree in divinity from the Princeton Theological Seminary. After finishing his studies, Watson worked at a mission in Pittsburgh and pastored a church in St. Louis. In 1902 he was called upon by the United Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions to direct its overseas activities in India and the Middle East. He cultivated an association with the Hill family, who eventually made possible the American University in Cairo through their generous contributions.