Every year, commencement speakers share words of wisdom with a new graduating class. This year's undergraduate and graduate speakers both work at the highest levels of the global stage. Read more about them below.

Amina Khalil '09

Amina Khalil '09 is the 2026 undergraduate commencement speaker. Khalil is known for her versatile range and depth as an actor, earning critical acclaim for her performances in Asham, Sukkar Mor and more. 

 After graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts, she continued to refine her craft in advance acting training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and Moscow Art Theatre.

Between films and television series, Khalil is known for addressing socially relevant and underrepresented issues through her acting, using storytelling to create meaningful public dialogue.

Her work stretches beyond the theater, advocating for reproductive health, and the rights of women and girls as an Honorary Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund in Egypt.

Ahmed Farouk Ghoneim

Ahmed Farouk Ghoneim is the 2026 graduate commencement speaker. Ghoneim serves as CEO of the Grand Egyptian Museum, alongside working as a professor of economics at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science of Cairo University and a research fellow at the Economic Research Forum. 

A widely cited expert in political economy and trade policy, Ghoenim has served as a consultant for the World Bank, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Arab League. 

Ghoneim has held several executive positions throughout his career, notably serving as an advisor to Egypt’s Ministers of Trade and Industry on foreign trade and international agreements; Egypt’s Cultural Counselor and Head of the Educational Mission in Germany, Austria and other countries; and formerly serving as the first CEO of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC). 

Ghoneim holds a PhD in economics from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany and a master’s degree in development economics from the International Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands.

Ghoneim sits on various boards, currently serving as a board member of NMEC, GEM, the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the Tourism and Antiquities Support Fund, the Egyptian General Authority for Tourism Activation, Edita Food Industries, Delta Insurance, the Export Development Bank of Egypt, a representative of the National Bank of Egypt, a member of the board of trustees of the Export Academy and a member of the foreign trade committee at the Federation of Egyptian Industries. 

AUC commencement 2026 is set for Saturday February 14, 2026 hosted in the Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor Football and Track Stadium at AUC New Cairo.