Akher Kalam: An American Student’s Impression of the College, 1930

By Tess Santorelli For Farkhonda Hassan (MSc '67), the phrase "mother knows best" takes on an entirely new meaning. Hassan, professor emerita in the School of Sciences and Engineering, has been teaching at AUC for 55 years. Her extensive list of students includes Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan '91 and Nabil Fahmy '74, '77, Egypt's former foreign minister and founding dean of the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Yet, she has some particular students she especially enjoyed teaching at AUC -- her children and grandchildren. Hassan's daughter, Wegdan Lotfi '79, '91, was previously an adjunct faculty member at AUC's Department of Chemistry and had taught her own children as well, including Omar Khalifa '08. "He got a B minus in my class," Lotfi said jokingly.  Khalifa also reflected, laughing, "Most of the people I meet say, 'Oh, your mother is Wegdan; your grandmother is Farkhonda. She taught me; she taught me!'" As AUC's centennial approaches, Hassan, Lotfi and Khalifa sat together in the living room of Hassan's home, surrounded by photographs and family mementos, and reflected on what this centennial means to them as a multigenerational family of AUCians. Hassan, who was present for the University's 75th anniversary in 1994, said she can't believe the centennial is this year. "I have been at AUC for more than half a century. I never imagined that I would make it to the centennial, but I really feel happy to be here," Hassan said. "I feel like I am part of AUC and AUC is part of me." The Start of a LegacyHassan, who first joined AUC as a graduate student to study solid-state science in the Department of Chemistry, still finds herself happiest when she is teaching. "I'm a little bit tired of walking across the new campus between classes," she said with a smile. "But still, I find myself in the classroom." In 1964, only a year into graduate school, Hassan was appointed assistant instructor. "Maybe I was a good teacher or something. Omar knows," she laughed, gesturing to Khalifa. When she graduated two years later, Hassan left Egypt to earn her PhD in geology from the University of Pittsburg, after which she returned to teach geology at AUC. In addition to being a celebrated scientist and prominent professor, Hassan is also co-chair of the Gender Advisory Board of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development, as well as secretary-general and a member of Egypt's National Council for Women since 2000. Elected to the Egyptian Parliament in 1979 and serving there until 1984, Hassan is currently chair of the Commission on Human Development and Local Administration in parliament. She was also named an honorary life member of the International Parliamentary Union. In Hassan's years of teaching, she has not only taught her own children and grandchildren, but her friends' children and grandchildren as well. She recounted with amusement the number of times students in her class, who were children and grandchildren of her friends, were too shy to introduce themselves as relatives of her friends. "I feel very happy when I teach the generations of my students," said Hassan. "I'm very proud of them." Hassan said having her grandchildren in class taught her things she didn't previously know about them. "Like Omar, for example, he's very independent. I didn't know that before," Hassan said. "I learned that when he gets an idea, he will do it no matter what. He perseveres."  Hassan recalled a time when Lotfi was in her class. She raised her hand and asked Hassan why she had received an incorrect mark on an exam when she believed she had answered every question correctly.  "She came up to the podium and asked me to show her what was wrong on her exam," said Hassan. I told her, 'You see this? I couldn't read it.' When she turned to sit down, she said something, and the entire class laughed. Mother's Day was two days away, and, apparently, she mouthed to the class, 'I'm not getting her a Mother's Day gift.'"When she turned to sit down, she said something, and the entire class laughed. Mother's Day was two days away, and, apparently, she mouthed to the class, 'I'm not getting her a Mother's Day gift.'"  Professor Emerita Farkhonda Hassan (MSc '67) with her daughter Wegdan Lotfi '79, left; Lotfi with her father at her graduation; Omar Khalifa '09 at his graduationLearning from the BestAfter graduating from AUC's Department of Chemistry in 1979 and having her four children, Lotfi earned her master's in solid-state physics in 1991. A former member of the Suzanne Mubarak International Peace Movement and a former member of Egypt's International Economic Forum, Lotfi prides her family in their "respect for hard work."  "I love teaching because it's in my blood," said Lotfi. "My kids appreciate work -- all of them. They all took courses with me, but they knew that they had to study."  Lotfi tributes everything she learned about being a faculty member to her previous professors at AUC. "I remember any advice I was given," she reflected. "In all my life stages, I've had these beautiful professors. Everyone who taught me in the department helped me build character," said Lotfi. "I was shaped at AUC."  Unlike their mother and grandmother, neither Omar Khalifa nor his two brothers, Khaled '04 and Youssef '17 chose the science route at AUC. At first, Lotfi insisted that her eldest son, Khaled, take science courses. To convince him, she arranged for him to meet with a particularly persuasive professor.  "I left them together in her office for nearly an hour. When he came out, he told me, 'She's so kind. She convinced me to do what I want.'" Lotfi said, recalling her shock. "I asked him, 'What do you want?' and he said, 'I want to go into political science.' And that's what he did, and he started getting better grades and was happy."  From that moment on, Lotfi decided to step back from her children's studies. "When it was Omar's turn, I told him, 'You do what you want,'" Lotfi said.  As an active member of AUC's student body, Khalifa founded the Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa organization, was a member of the Student Union, served as the Master of Ceremonies for the Student Union Talk Show at Ewart Memorial Hall and was a top player for the University's water polo team.  After graduating with a bachelor's in political science, specializing in international relations, Khalifa founded his own publishing and advertising company, Omedia, in 2009. Inspired by the employment fairs at AUC, Khalifa launched Shaghalni.com in 2015. He had a five-minute meeting to pitch the idea to the person who he says inspired him the most, Naguib Sawiris. The pitch resulted in Sawiris investing in the company.  Though Khalifa describes himself as more business-oriented, he still took a class with his mother. He recalled in one of Lotfi's assignments, there was the option to either give a presentation on something small, write a paper or create a drawing.  "I draw very well, so naturally, I picked drawing," said Khalifa. "I woke up in the morning before class, and in minutes, I drew a perfect solar eclipse. When I went to class and gave it to my mother, my friend told her, 'He just made that 10 minutes ago.' She knows I'm a good artist and told me I had to do the presentation instead. He ruined the plan," Khalifa said, as his mother laughed.  Khalifa said the most important lesson learned after taking his grandmother's class was the meaning of integrity. "During lunch at her house, she wouldn't answer any of my questions regarding the course," Khalifa recalled. "Instead, she would tell me to visit her during office hours so I don't receive any extra treatment."  A member of the Alumni Council and the AUC Fund committee, Khalifa hosts yearly employment fairs on the Tahrir Square campus as his way of "giving back" to AUC for fueling his ambition. "All of my ideas and dreams were created while studying at AUC," he said. Making it Count"Having a family of AUCians -- my son, my daughter, my in-laws and my grandchildren -- is really great," said Hassan. "I think we belong to the AUC culture. All of us."As a faculty member, Hassan is most proud of her students because they learn how to navigate life while studying at AUC. "It is not just a degree. It is a way of thinking and living," said Hassan.  Khalifa said AUC's impact on its students is evident throughout Egypt. "This is one of the oldest, most well-established universities in Egypt," he said. "Everywhere you go, even in the biggest companies you'll always find an AUCian on the decision-making team."  "The University gives space for students to think out of the box," Lotfi agreed. "It encourages self-development and learning to the utmost."  Omar Khalifa ('09) and daugther Carla, possibly a fourth generation AUCian?Khalifa added that not everyone knows his family's relationship to AUC. "But when they know," chimed in Hassan, "They link everything," Khalifa finished.  "Having a family of AUCians -- my son, my daughter, my in-laws and my grandchildren -- is really great," said Hassan. "I think we belong to the AUC culture. All of us."  How would the family describe AUC? "Character-building," they agreed.  "I see students entering as freshmen, and when I see them as seniors, they've grown into completely different people," said Lotfi. "It is really quite impressive. In four years, they change. They're more confident. They are better at everything -- all because of their time at AUC."  As Lotfi spoke, Khalifa's 2-year-old daughter Carla wobbled from one chair to the next. "The fourth generation of AUCians!" Khalifa said jokingly, as everyone laughed.  "AUC is in us. I mean, we are all AUCians," said Lotfi, while Carla steadied herself against her great-grandmother.Three Generations of AUC FamiliesLucy Amin '60 (right) with her daughter Nelly Ragai '89 at the 2016 homecoming in AUC Tahrir SquareNelly Ragai '89Ragai's late husbandTeddy Tadros '88, '97Ragai, manager at AUC's Yousef Jameel Science and Technology Research Center, with her son and daughter -- both AUC studentsLucy Amin '60 (third from right)"We are a Jordanian-Saudi family that is proud of its AUCian roots, which go back to the year 1928, when our great uncle joined AUC. There are many more AUCian aunts, uncles and cousins in our family. It is the fond memories at AUC that our family takes back when we travel to our countries."-- Rania Jabr (MA '90)Grandmother NajwaAl Imam '58DaughterRania Jabr (MA '90),senior instructor II atAUCGrandsonBassel Al-Dabbagh '18Grandfather Ahmed Shafic Abou Oaf (MA '77)Daughter Mervat Shafic Abou Oaf '88, '02(right), professor of practice in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication;with her son Adham Zidan '09, '14Grandmother Mary Dafashy '75 (right),mother Mona Makramalla '85 (left) anddaughter Sara Meleika '11 

By Dalia Al Nimr | This story appeared in the July 2017 edition of AUC Today.Born in 1946 in Ramleh/Jaffa on the Mediterranean shores of Palestine, Souhail El Farouki '68 immigrated to Egypt in 1948, when the Arab-Israeli war broke out. In 1963, he graduated from Victoria College in Alexandria, then moved to the United Kingdom to complete his A-levels. For El Farouki, things in life did not come easy."Having been forced to leave my homeland in Palestine, I can relate to the refugee crisis plaguing our world today," reflected El Farouki. "When I went to the UK, I worked there during my holidays -- as a farmer; as a wheelbarrow porter transporting luggage and cargo at Folkestone Harbour Railway Station; and as a kitchen helper in restaurants. Being exposed to all these different types of jobs motivated me to do well in my studies."El Farouki graduated from AUC in 1968 with a bachelor's in chemistry. Following in the footsteps of his father, Ghaleb El Farouki '33, Souhail El Farouki attended AUC, where he met his life partner Abla Leheta '69, who is originally from Port Said."I still remember the year -- 1964," recalled El Farouki. "We were on a freshman trip to Al Qanater Al Khayria. My camera ran out of film, but I pretended to take pictures of the scenic environment whereas my focus was to talk to Abla. When she asked me later about the photos, I never lied; I admitted that I had run out of film. There was and continues to be a lot of mutual respect between us."For both El Farouki and Leheta, their University years were all about hard work and perseverance. With the close-down of her father's business in Port Said and Suez, Leheta found herself obliged to work as a part-timer at AUC's mail office and at an airline travel office to partially help support herself and finish her studies. Similarly, El Farouki overloaded himself with credit hours and took summer classes to graduate quickly in order to join the workforce and help his father. "AUC instilled in us the motivation and desire to work hard, make our lives worthwhile and be the least burden on our families," said El Farouki."AUC inspired us and opened our eyes to the fact that there are no privileges except through hard work and knowledge acquisition, whether you own a Ferrari or commute using a second-class bus ticket, whether you dine at posh restaurants or eat foul and ta'meya, whether you wear the same or different clothes every day. All students are equal at AUC, independent of background, social class or status. AUC gave us a different outlook on life and taught us not to be distracted by petty issues."AUC was a home away from home for both El Farouki and Leheta. Not only did their siblings and relatives join AUC, but the University carried special memories for both of them: from Am Abdou who greeted them every day at the University gate to their favorite campus spots such as the cafeteria, Ewart and Oriental halls, the library and hostel to entertaining activities such as theatre performances, sports games and social events.El Farouki and Leheta first met at AUC in 1964, and have been together ever since.Even the "demanding professors, the tough graders," whom El Farouki and Leheta described as their favorite because they learned the most from them, were an unforgettable part of AUC. And of course, there are the extracurricular activities, which were not only fun, but a fertile learning ground outside of the classroom. These included El Farouki serving as a sports manager for the freshman class and as a social manager for sophomores, and running for the position of head of the AUC student body. Leheta was also chosen as one of the finalists in the Miss AUC competition. "Each of these activities taught us something new," said El Farouki. On one occasion, during an AUC trip to the American University of Beirut, their travel was partially funded by carrying items with them that were later sold in Lebanon.After graduation, armed with their degrees -- a bachelor's in chemistry for El Farouki and a bachelor's in economics and political science for Leheta -- the two alumni were ready to venture into the real world. "AUC prepared us for the real world and equipped us with an eagerness to learn, which gave us the courage to get married and apply for graduate studies abroad," El Farouki noted.Soon enough, El Farouki received an assistantship to pursue graduate studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he received his PhD in chemistry in 1976. Leheta worked as a full-time librarian at the same university until she acquired her master's in educational administration. "We lived in low-income housing and used Salvation Army furniture," El Farouki said. "I used to hitchhike to the university until we were able to buy a second-hand car. I distinctly remember receiving a Teaching Assistant Award -- a $25 check -- in 1975 and taking my wife and young daughter, Roba, to a pizza parlor where I used to work for extra money."Leheta and El Farouki at his graduation in 1968, four years after they first met.After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the married couple moved to Saudi Arabia, where El Farouki joined the Juffali family business. The group's managing partner, the late Sheikh Ahmed Juffali, husband of the renowned philanthropist and AUC Advisory Trustee Suad Al-Husseini Juffali, had plans to add Dow Chemical Company to the organization's diverse business activities. El Farouki was offered a job as a salesman to introduce Dow Chemical products into the market. Over the next four decades, El Farouki helped develop the Juffali chemical business into one of the largest, most diversified private sector chemical operations in the region. His achievements were cited in numerous publications, such as Growth Company: Dow Chemical's First Century and the late Ahmed Juffali's biography, Ahmed Juffali: A Life in Business.Both El-Farouki and Leheta actively give back to their communities, be it contributing to local and regional charitable organizations, serving on the boards of trustees of local international schools, and developing a passion for the culinary arts by heading the International Chaine Des Rotisseurs Jeddah Chapter and the Gourmet Club Saudi ChapterAlthough El Farouki recently left the Juffali group, he is still active in developing his family's coffee and roasted nuts wholesale and retail business and building a personal chemicals platform in Jordan.Throughout their life journey, El Farouki and Leheta were keen to pass on a valuable lesson to their three children and nine grandchildren. "We have tried to implant in them the importance of working hard -- daily and over a period of many long years -- and contributing to others," said El Farouki. "All our children have been encouraged to have part-time jobs while studying at university. Even our grandchildren are active in fundraising, charity calls and serving in refugee camps. It is through both hard work and contributions to others that people, looking back, can appreciate and value all they have achieved."Leheta with AUC classmates at a friend's wedding.Recognizing their accomplishments, AUC presented El Farouki with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999 and Leheta with a Distinguished Alumni Volunteer Award in 2004. Becoming forever a part of the New Cairo campus, the married couple named the Abla Leheta '69 and Souhail El-Taji El-Farouki '68 Courtyard."When we look back at our beautiful journey, we are grateful for what we have achieved," said El Farouki. "AUC was a stepping stone for us and helped us get to where we are now. We hope today's students who pass through this courtyard will have an even better journey than ours."He added, "Giving to AUC was also part of my father's legacy, when he established the Ghaleb El Farouki '33 Endowed Scholarship in 1985 to support Palestinian students. I am very touched by the notes I receive from the scholarship recipients and want to do more for this University. AUC has a great snowball effect: It teaches us to excel in everything we do, and employers look specifically for AUC graduates because they have proven themselves in the job market. Then these employers, many of them big corporations, give back to AUC because of their gratefulness to it for producing such fine graduates."To these fine graduates, El Farouki and Leheta advise: "Life is short. Live every moment. Work hard. Stay in touch with your classmates. Treat people with kindness, modesty and respect, no matter how much knowledge you have. This is the secret recipe for success." This slideshow requires JavaScript.  

The Board of Trustees Cairo meeting on campus last week was packed with a range of activities and events, from AUC’s Centennial Celebration Week and the launch of a strategic look at the future of the campus in the next 100 years to in-depth meetings with faculty and students.   “Tonight we celebrate on this beautiful plaza — grateful to our founders and satisfied that our ambitions for our 100th anniversary were met,” said Richard Bartlett, chairman of the Board of Trustees, during Centennial Nights. “And as this celebration of our first 100 years comes to an end, we are already planning for our next 100 years.”  Bartlett added, “At the celebration of our next centennial, I hope that our successors will look back at the AUC community of today and regard it as the wise, generous stewards that our predecessors were. The future of AUC is bright if we remain true to our values and all recognize the problems and the obligations that come with the privilege of being part of it. As a community, let us join together in the service of that mission. Mabrouk AUC.” Wrapping up AUC’s 100th anniversary yearlong celebration on the New Cairo campus, board members attended various events. As the University enters its second century, the board was also here for the launch of a long-range strategic planning exercise to look at the future of AUC our home in New Cairo. Trustees participated in the University-wide “Campus Conversation: AUC Next 100,” engaging in AUC community discussions with international architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle (BBB), who will be guiding the University through this master planning process. The trustees also attended a meeting with faculty and student members of the Campus Planning Steering Committee and BBB.  “After quite a rigorous and deliberate selection process, we've selected BBB for their extensive experience planning campus expansions with universities in the United States and around the world,” said AUC President Francis Ricciardone during Campus Conversation. “BBB will help us determine how best to utilize our entire campus … making sure we're using what space we've got to the optimal level. We will be prioritizing future building projects to shape and advance our educational mission and the experience of AUC students, faculty and staff as we live and work together on this campus.” Ricciardone added, “What we’re about today is not to reveal to you ‘the plan.’ It is instead to begin a process, a conversation, where together we plan to develop.”   Trustees regularly use their annual Cairo meeting to directly interact with different constituencies on campus. They visited the Student Lounge, had lunch with students on campus and dinner with faculty in their homes, and attended a panel on faculty research at AUC. They attended an interactive session with chairs of academic departments on the future of AUC.  Off campus, AUC trustees met with Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and engaged in conversation on the country’s economic outlook with Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait.  “As we step into AUC’s second century, we not only celebrate our past achievements, but we look forward to the next 100 years, reaffirming our commitment to serving Egypt,” said Ricciardone. “AUC continues to graduate students who are equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to advance the development and economic prosperity of their country. We appreciate the vision Minister of Finance Dr. Mohammed Maait shared with us. We remain keen to take part in Egypt’s bold plans for development and economic growth.” The trustees also met with representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce.  Distinguished for their professional accomplishments in the areas of business, law, education, diplomacy, philanthropy and scholarship, AUC’s trustees are all volunteers who dedicate their time and resources to supporting the University. Coming from the United States, Egypt and elsewhere in the region, the trustees include Nobel laureates, ambassadors, corporate CEOs, philanthropists and university professors. The trustees do not receive a salary or compensation. They provide financial support and volunteer their time and expertise to the University. 

“At AUC, I discovered my passion for human-machine interaction, and the phenomenal classes I took in computer science set me up to be a leader in artificial intelligence,” said Rana el Kaliouby, '98, '00, AUC trustee and CEO and co-founder of Affectiva, the global leader in emotion AI. El Kaliouby is also author of the forthcoming book, Girl Decoded. Speaking on "AI: Humanizing Technology" as part of AUC's Centennial Nights, el Kaliouby began her talk by reflecting on the time when she first stepped foot on AUC’s campus in 1993 as a 15-year-old freshman. As a computer science major, she recalled how her typical day was to attend classes until around 6 pm and spend all-nighters at the labs to get her work and projects done. However, to her, AUC was also the place where "day in and day out, [she] was inspired by the vibrant community" and where she found “her tribe” — students, faculty and staff — many of whom were there during her talk and "continue to be [her] closest friends." “I wore many hats at AUC,” el Kaliouby added. “I was an undergraduate and master’s student, and my first job ever was an assistant analyst in Academic Computing Services. I was also a faculty member for a semester, and my relationship with AUC continues as I serve as a trustee. I am forever an ambassador of AUC and an avid supporter of this community.” El Kaliouby’s education at AUC was not only restricted to her computer science classes. Like all undergraduates, she had to take Core Curriculum courses, such as Scientific Thinking and Philosophic Thinking, and electives that comprised everything from economics to psychology. “What strikes me as truly phenomenal about AUC is its liberal arts education,” she added. Back then, like many other students, she actually considered it to be a "colossal waste of time," and she wanted to concentrate more on her computer science courses. “In hindsight, I was so wrong because in this day and age, we need diversity of thinking and diversity of thought, especially as we consider ethics in technology and as we design, develop and deploy artificial intelligence,” said el Kaliouby. ""These early ideas that I learned at AUC continue to influence my thinking as a thought leader in AI. If we just let computer scientists sit in a room and design the technology of the future, I worry that we don't realize its full potential, and even worse, introduce all kinds of biases into these technologies." El Kaliouby graduated top of her class and received the President's Cup from AUC. She then earned her PhD from the University of Cambridge. “AUC plays this unique role as the bridge between the Middle East and the West," she said. "For me, it was like a portal into the global world."How It All StartedDuring her postgraduate studies at Cambridge away from her family, el Kaliouby spent more time with her laptop than she did with any other human being, which made her realize that this computer was "completely oblivious" to her emotional state. “There were days when I was really down and really homesick, and this machine had absolutely no clue despite the amount of time we were spending together. It was also the main portal of communication with my family back home. ... I realized that this computer, or digital communication, was sucking all the nuances of nonverbal communication, and I just felt there is a disconnect. There is the illusion of being connected, but you're not really connected."That was the spark that made her wonder if machines, or technology, could ever understand humans the way we do or tell the difference between a smile and a smirk. "Both involve the lower half of the face, but have very different meanings," el Kaliouby said. “Once again, my AUC education kicked in.""As it turns out, only 10% of how we communicate is an actual choice of words that we use; 90% is nonverbal: facial expressions, gestures, vocal intonations," el Kaliouby noted. "So I used machine learning and computer vision, which I had learned about at AUC, to build the first-ever machine that can translate our facial movements into facial expression codes and then emotional inferences." El Kaliouby then joined the MIT Media Lab as a postdoctoral fellow and was on track to becoming a faculty member there. But being at MIT made el Kaliouby and her team connected to Fortune 500 companies, who expressed a lot of interest in commercializing the technology. In a couple of years, el Kaliouby co-founded Affectiva, which began as a spinoff of the MIT Media Lab. Headquartered in Boston, Affectiva is now the global leader in emotion AI, particularly the ethical development of AI. "At Affectiva, we deploy things like machine learning, computer vision, tech learning and voice analytics to try to map out how people communicate with one another," el Kaliouby said. "Affectiva is now 100 people strong. We have an amazing team and office in Cairo, several of whom are AUC alumni, so we continue to attract and invest in the AUC community."The ApplicationsBut what are the practical applications of emotion AI?"The applications are endless," el Kaliouby noted. One area is the automotive industry: improving road safety by detecting when drivers are falling asleep or getting distracted, what the general sentiment of other passengers in the vehicle are and how to personalize the riding experience for utmost safety and comfort. Other areas of application are autism, health care and mental health. "If you walk into a doctor’s office today, they won’t ask you about your temperate or blood temperature; they'll just measure them. But in mental health, ... they ask people on a scale of 1 to 10, how much pain are you in? How depressed are you? How suicidal are you? And we know that this data is not objective. We can do much better. So I am very excited about the applications of emotion AI to mental health." "Our mission is to humanize technology before it dehumanizes us," el Kaliouby affirmed. "AI is becoming engrained in every aspect of our lives — how we connect with one another, how we communicate, how we do business. AI is taking on roles that were traditionally held by humans. It's acting as your personal assistant, helping you hire your next co-worker, making business decisions for you, driving your car and even assisting with your health care. But as we enter this universe of AI, I believe we need to really focus on trust. We need to trust these technologies as they act on our behalf. We also need these technologies to trust in humans. It's a two-way street. We need to define and forge a new partnership between humans and machines, a new social contract. ... Emotional intelligence is just as important as your cognitive intelligence, or IQ. People with higher IQs tend to do better in life: They're more likable, more persuasive, more successful generally as leaders and in their personal lives — and I believe that is true for technology that needs to interface with humans on a daily basis. It needs to have IQ, but also a lot of EQ as well." The ChallengesThe talk was moderated by Abdelhameed Sharara, founder and CEO of RiseUp Summit, who asked el Kaliouby about the challenges she faced as a female entrepreneur, away from the glamorous side that people always see. “As an undergraduate at AUC, ... I think our classes were balanced, and I really enjoyed being an undergraduate here. It’s only when I got to Cambridge [that I realized] there were about 100 PhD students at the time — five of whom were females. That's when I started to think, ... 'Maybe I am different.'”El Kaliouby recalled one of the first major challenges she faced when pitching her company with co-founder Rosalind Picard to investors in a male-dominated environment. “Here we were, two women, both scientists with zero business experience pitching an emotion company. That didn’t go very well. It took a lot of trials to find our initial serious investment, and it’s been a journey for me to find my voice and embrace it.”When asked by Sharara about what motivates her to persist through these challenges, el Kaliouby said, “I am passionate about what I do. I see good in it, and that’s what drives me."  Words of GratitudeEl Kaliouby gave credit to some of her professors at AUC who have influenced her life and to whom she’s “forever indebted.” They include Amr El-Kadi, professor of computer systems engineering, and Amr Goneid, professor of computer science — who both "inspired [el Kaliouby] to pursue a career in research;" Ashraf El Fiqi, associate professor of physics, "who made physics both fun and fascinating;" and Hoda Hosny, who was the only female faculty member in the computer science department at the time and who "made computer science accessible and quickly became [el Kaliouby’s] mentor and role model." “I wanted to be just like her," el Kaliouby reflected. "She was my #goals, really, and she made me realize the true power of a mentor who believes in you and a role model that you could resonate with."Paying it forward, el Kaliouby supports young entrepreneurs, especially young women who are interested in pursuing a career in technology and entrepreneurship. "I am especially excited about AUC’s internationalization program and about bringing more international students and faculty to AUC’s campus and vice versa. ... This cross-combination is really magical, and it’s this diversity of thought that drives innovation.”El Kaliouby also expressed her excitement about AUC’s investment in entrepreneurship through its new innovation platform, experiential learning and the AUC Venture Lab. “For me, this kind of hands-on experience was really powerful as an undergraduate and helped me set off for success as a leader," she said. Looking to the future, el Kaliouby noted, "As I look ahead to the next 100 years, I am very excited about the future. I am excited about AUC's role as a liberal arts school and driving this human-centric approach to technology — not just changing the way we interface with our devices but, more importantly, how we connect and communicate with one another. ... AI, if done right, can bring people together and ... democratize access to education in ways that we can’t even imagine. I am privileged to be part of this community. AUC has made me the person I am today, but I recognize that not everyone has this opportunity, so I want to see more underprivileged people have access to this education through technology and AI. Let's humanize technology before it dehumanizes us. Let’s 'Be the Future. AUC, mabrouk 100 years and looking forward to the next 100.”