Bahia Shehab, associate professor of design and founder of the graphic design program at AUC, recalls feeling "liberated" the first time she spray-painted a wall in Cairo.

“It was a beautiful moment,” Shehab said.

Shehab had just spent the previous year developing her calligraphy book, A Thousand Times NO: The Visual History of Lam-Alif which contained a series of graffiti images that were inspired by the thousands of ways the word “no” — written as 'لا' in stylized Arabic calligraphy. Shehab said she first took to the streets during the Egyptian uprisings and began spray painting “no” in response to the violence that was occurring around her.

“I wanted to get across how people were feeling in the square and what it felt like to be part of that event,” she said.

Shehab, who was named a TED Senior Fellow in 2016, said the attention she has received since the revolution is “unexpected.”

“I wasn't really seeking that kind of attention or wanting it necessarily, but I found myself in a position where I needed to communicate what was going on to the world,” she said.

Shehab explained that the message behind her work didn’t change during the uprisings, but rather the uprisings amplified her voice.

“It’s like when someone is whispering, and then they use a loudspeaker so you suddenly hear their voice,” Shehab said. “When you take the loudspeaker away they are still having the same conversation.”

After the revolution, Shehab took her graffiti to other cities around the world, painting the words of the Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, often relating them to the social issues related to the location of her art.

“Art can be used as space or a place to bridge cultures, and to bridge societies and to create more understanding between us as people living on this planet in a way that nothing else can,” said Shehab. 

In Madison, she painted “no to the impossible.” in Vancouver, she painted “stand at the corner of a dream and fight.” In Paris, she painted “I will dream.” In Morocco, she painted "we love life if we had access to it."

Though Shehab sees art as “a tool for social change,” she doesn’t consider herself an activist.

“I feel that artists are a mirror to their society. As an artist, it's the nature of my job,” said Shehab. “Whether I like it or not I am a cultural ambassador.”

The last wall Shehab painted was at the Doris Duke Museum for Islamic Art, Design and Culture in Hawaii, where she was the artist in residence. While studying Duke’s collection, she also installed an onsite mural called My People, that reads, “My people will return as light and air and water," a stanza from a poem by Darwish.

“I might be using Arabic, I might be using the poems of a Palestinian poet, but we in the struggle for equality, and our struggle for human dignity, we stand shoulder by shoulder, we are all the same,” Shehab said. 

One of the many projects Shehab is currently working on is Project Light — a global art campaign by Peek Vision and Fine Acts that aims to increase public understanding, engagement and support for the right to sight. Another project is a visual database of the history of Arabic script that she is hoping to launch sometime next year.

Shehab started the database for Arabic designers interested in creating new fonts, which she realized was desperately lacking.

“If you look at Arabic type design, for the ten-thousand plus Latin scripts that are available on your computer, on any computer, we have maybe now five-hundred Arabic scripts — and only around 20 web designed ones that a designer can use,” explained Shehab. “It's like if you're missing the color red in a color palette.”

Shehab, who is the first Arab woman to receive the UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture, said out of everything she has accomplished, she is most proud of her students.

“They are the change I want to see in the world,” she said, smiling.

Shehab’s favorite course to teach is the History of Arabic Graphic Design, which was not available until this semester because it took her six years to do the research. In addition to designing the course, Shehab wrote A History of Arab Graphic Design with Haytham Nawar that will be available this summer.

“My students and my teaching assistant tell me, ‘Bahia, I have never seen you so happy. Every time you walk into this class you are beaming and you are smiling.’ It's because I worked so hard for this course,” she said.

As for heroes, Shehab finds herself “burdened” with being her own.

“As an Arab woman, I didn't grow up with role models that I looked up to. I didn't identify with the models of the heroes that were being represented to me and I find myself responsible for being a role model now,” said Shehab. “I mean, our lawyers, our scientists? They exist, they were just never represented to me as a younger woman, and I would like to do that for coming generations.”

In Shehab’s TED Talk she closed with a line that spoke to the fire she brings into her daily life: "you can crush the flowers but you can't delay the spring."

In Shehab’s world, the spring is always on time.

For a clinical psychologist, Kate Ellis, assistant professor of psychology, has a   uniquely hands-off approach to therapy. In fact, she is trying to make the demand for traditional therapy as minimal as possible in Egypt.  

Why would Ellis want to reduce the need for therapy when she herself is a clinician? In a region filled with stigma and lack of resources, Ellis is on a mission to bridge the gap between available human resources and those that are needed to give young refugees and trauma survivors more accessible mental health resources.

“Though meeting face-to-face is ideal, it is often more realistic to provide a community with resources and training needed to be self-sufficient, like training non-professionals to help alleviate distress,” said Ellis, who also serves as both the graduate program director in the Department of Psychology and the coordinator of the leadership in mental health course held at AUC.

Hailing from the United Kingdom, Ellis accepted a postdoctoral position at AUC before she even finished her second PhD for a clinical doctorate in psychology. After arriving in Egypt, Ellis began focusing more of her time working with refugees and trauma survivors due to the large need in the region.

“I've always been interested in how violence and conflict affect people both in terms of victims and perpetrators, and what makes us inflict these things in other people, as well as how those consequences are understood and experienced by people,” she said.

Currently, Ellis is involved in projects to develop and evaluate intervention programs in conflict-affected settings such as Egypt, upscaling mental health interventions in low-economic countries and developing accessible online, culturally appropriate interventions for trauma in Egyptian Arabic.

“It is a very fascinating area of work and one that is very much under-filled in the Middle East,” said Ellis. “There is a lot of need here for understanding mental health needs, what can be utilized and what isn't here that needs to be built.”

Through multiple projects, Ellis has become a pioneer in delivering new resources to a region that requires ingenuity to produce results.

Looking Back to Move Forward

While the most serious mental health cases should be directed to therapeutic resources whenever possible, Ellis said mental health problems or distress of a less serious nature can often be managed with psychoeducation, social support and a healthy lifestyle. According to Ellis, there is a movement for professionally trained clinicians in the region to train and supervise others, perhaps seeing fewer clients themselves.

“There will never be enough clinicians to provide therapy to all those in need, especially in a country or a region that has suffered many wars, and as a result currently has the largest refugee crisis in history," Ellis explained. "In many cases, a highly skilled expensive professional is not needed.”

Ellis recently completed a study training lay counselors from a Sudanese refugee population to deliver narrative exposure therapy within their community. This type of therapy does not need to be delivered by a professional and is usually delivered over just five or six sessions, which makes it an ideal therapy program for refugees who are often moving frequently.

“I wanted the therapy to be delivered to people from someone who is from their culture, who understands it, who has the same language, from the same tribe,” said Ellis.

In the initial session, the participant creates a "lifeline." They take a long piece of rope and small stones and flowers and map out all the significant events in their lives. For every sad event, a stone is placed, and for every happy event, a flower is placed. The participants are then asked about their hopes for the next five years. Throughout the following sessions, each life event is discussed. As details emerge, more events are added, allowing the participant to discuss each event in-depth throughout the sessions.

“The idea is that building the narrative and the story and talking about it over and over again with someone who is non-judgemental and supportive helps the participant to go through their past in a way that becomes less painful and scary for them,” Ellis said.

She noted that during implementation, she spoke with the community about things like social cohesion, feeling like belonging and coming together. As the therapy was being distributed, Ellis noticed refugees started coming to their community center and gathering together.

“I'd see them having tea together,” said Ellis. “I think that feeling valued was a really helpful part of it because they often hadn't felt that before.”

Other benefits of the therapy are that it gives refugees documentation that they can take with them when they are trying to get registered as a refugee or get settled somewhere, Ellis noted. The style of the therapy also helps to avoid the typical stigma against mental health.

“I think in this region culturally, narratives and storytelling are something that most people feel quite comfortable with, so certainly, the Sudanese culture fits very well,” Ellis said. “Telling stories is an acceptable way to talk about things. It's culturally appropriate.”

Though she is still waiting to publish the official study, Ellis said that in all but one participant, symptoms of post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression significantly decreased. When she interviewed the participants for feedback, a recurring theme was that it was the first time they had ever been heard and that being able to speak about it was empowering.

“The study shows us that it's not about doing complicated therapy and needing professional psychologists or psychiatrists,” Ellis said. “These are normal people from that population who were trained in a relatively short space of time on how to do this. It's really about being heard and having a safe space.”

Mobilizing Mental Health

In a country that is lacking in mental health resources, Ellis noted, how do you keep up? She turned to online intervention in hopes of reaching a broader spectrum of people.

“[Online resources] get around stigma and financial barriers," she said. "The fact that you can do it whenever you want, on your own time, in your house, on your phone, wherever you are — it's really helpful, especially in Cairo. As a clinician, I sometimes have people waiting in two hours of traffic to get to me for an appointment.”

Through a study on the development of a free online application that follows cognitive behavioral therapy principles, Ellis and her colleague Laura Miller-Graff of the University of Notre Dame have adapted an existing intervention into a culturally appropriate program in Egyptian-Arabic — the first online Arabic intervention for post-traumatic stress disorder. The app contains 17 different tools the user can work on that help manage PTSD symptoms like anger, anxiety and sleep problems.

“Online interventions are really becoming an important tool for mental health,” said Ellis. “That's not to say that we should remove therapists — I wouldn't want to do that myself — but it is not feasible or accessible for everyone to be able to see a therapist."

Ellis said that there were two main aspects to tackle in creating the app: translation into Arabic and making it culturally appropriate.

“There is not a one-size-fits-all Arabic, so we had to do many focus groups and studies,” said Ellis. “The first translation was an absolute disaster. The terminology does not translate easily, and it was just too difficult for people to understand. The second time, we took a lot more advice and guidance in developing it.”

Ellis said making it culturally appropriate involved working with a lot of different people during the development phase. The target group was Egyptians between 18 and 40. The entire process took two years and is currently halfway through the pilot randomized control trial of 100 Egyptians undergoing the intervention. The first wave of data arrives next month, and the results will be published after. Once it is finalized, her team will be looking to get more funding to roll it out on a much larger scale.

“One of the problems with doing cultural research is that it's very difficult to determine who this is accessible to,” said Ellis. “Our thoughts at the moment are those who have at least finished high school or basic college. Ultimately, I would love to do a version of this that is all audio for people with literacy issues.”

Initially, Ellis said they were worried about not getting enough referrals for the study due to issues of stigma. They put the trial on a few social media platforms. For every post, they received more than 100 calls and emails.

“It just shows that the demand is massive,” Ellis said. “We've had people who have come to us and ask if we can translate this into other dialects of Arabic and create this for refugees. We truly hope so, but we must finish this first. it's been a long journey, and we're really excited now.”

Breaking Barriers

One of the biggest challenges Ellis continuously faces is the stigma of mental health, which she says is especially strong in the Middle East.

"People understand that they can be impacted by traumatic events and there are things that can help them, but a lot of people won't go to a psychologist or a psychotherapist or even to their doctor, because of the stigma attached to it,” said Ellis. “We have a lot of people, particularly who are victims of sexual assault and harassment who would not dream of going and asking for help because they end up getting re-traumatized in the process and sometimes blamed.”

This is one of the major reasons Ellis says she has become interested in bringing more accessible mental health solutions to the region.

“Mobile mental health is one of the biggest areas of development worldwide at the moment,” Ellis noted. “There is also a huge increase in the number of mobile phones these days, which is making it more possible to do those kinds of things.”

Ellis is also a member of the University of California Davis Arab Region Consortium, a group of academics from universities in the United States, Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine. They are currently working on developing a tool and investigating training needs in the region for professionals, paraprofessionals and non-professionals as to what's needed to help manage the mental health needs of refugees. This is part of a wider project for transforming refugee mental health care in the Middle East.

Making Connections

For the past four years, Ellis has been the coordinator of a leadership in mental health course for the Eastern Mediterranean region in partnership with the World Health Organization. The World Health Organization approached the Department of Psychology about this partnership. Departmental faculty and international experts, as well as the Egyptian General Secretariat, collaborated with them in developing the course structure and curriculum. The 10-day intensive training course is held annually at AUC, bringing mental health professionals from all over the region to learn how to lead in mental health in the region.  

“We have an online network so participants can stay in touch and continue to network with each other [after the course], and it's really nice to see that the sharing of information continues," she said. "Knowing they have that as a resource that is so missing in this region is a great feeling and one we are proud of in the department.”

Ellis and her colleague Carie Forden, also a professor in the Department of Psychology, have written and recently submitted a paper for peer review, evaluating how participants have experienced the program and what they've gone and done after to see if they are implementing the ideas they’ve learned.

“What's great is they're actually making changes in policy; they're actually recruiting mental health professionals,” she said. “In an interview that we just did, someone told us how they didn't even have a mental health budget and now they have one and have increased it -- and that they're doing training based on the things they have learned.”

AUC and Beyond

In her journey to create more accessible mental health resources in Egypt and the Middle East, Ellis said it is encouraging to see the dialogue around mental health changing.

“So many more people are more open to hearing about [mental health] and understanding it,” said Ellis. “I first started coming to Egypt 10 years ago for vacations. I never thought I would be working here, teaching counseling psychology to graduate students, seeing clients for therapy and seeing so many developments in the field."

Ellis mentioned that she is very fortunate to work with a talented and varied faculty in the Department of Psychology. The last five years at AUC, she indicated, have opened the doors to and provided the chance to collaborate on innovative projects locally and internationally in an area of huge development, which has been and continues to be a great privilege.

"So many of our graduates from the counseling and community psychology master's programs are doing wonderful things and providing mental health services and awareness in an ethical and professional manner to the Egyptian population, both in the public and private sector and also in NGOs,” said Ellis. “They are real innovators and ambassadors in the field, creating dialogue, dispelling myths and developing new services here in Egypt.”

Though Ellis admits there is a very long way to go in delivering mental health resources — whether they are mobile or face-to-face services and to overcome stigma — the work of many passionate and skilled psychologists in the country toward making mental health more accessible has fueled a conversation that is continuing to grow.

The monthlong exhibition, Nothing Vanishes, Everything Transforms, at the Prince Mohamed Ali Tewfik Palace (Manial Palace) featured the works of 28 Egyptian artists, including AUC alumni Marwan El Gamal '12, Islam Shabana '13, Malak Yacout '15, in addition to Khaled Hafez, adjunct associate professor of design in the Department of the Arts, Shady El Noshokaty, professor of practice in the Department of the Arts, and Huda Lofti, who taught Arab cultural history at AUC from 1983 to 2009.

The show endeavored to highlight the diversity and complexity of Egypt's cultural landscape while simultaneously attracting the private sector's interest to give donations that help preserve the palace museum.

The show was curated by Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, founder of Art D'Egypte, a platform that organizes an annual contemporary Egyptian art exhibition in a different historical site every year. Last year's exhibition took place at the Egyptian Museum for one night. Malak Shenouda, '18 and Hana Al Beblawy '18 worked with Abdel Ghaffar on curating the art exhibit.

Several artists drew inspiration from the palace itself for their compositions. "I find it very interesting and challenging for me to think about creating a sight-specific idea for the Sham Reception Hall, thinking about the historical context of the palace," confessed El Noshokaty, as he explained how his project at the exhibition, "Colony-Sound of the Seven Tears" was inspired by the museum's historical collections.

Check out some of the exhibition art pieces below:

Focusing on antiquities theft in Egypt and around the world, students in the Core Curriculum class, Loot: The Research for Buried Treasures in Egypt and Beyond, gained hands-on experience in Egyptology through visits to historic sites.    

Offered for the third semester, the course encourages students to preserve their own cultural heritage by learning more about it through readings, presentations, activities, field trips and conflict resolution.

But why looting?

 “I got interested in this topic when I was doing research for a novel,” said Gretchen McCullough, senior instructor in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition who designed this course. “Theft of antiquities became a huge issue after the Arab Spring and the security breakdown. But then, I realized this was not only a big issue in the Arab world, but also in Turkey, Greece and so many other countries.”

McCullough added, “This course focuses on how antiquities intersect with issues of cultural identity and ownership. We decided to run it as a course within the Core Curriculum, and since there are so many things to see, we added field trips as part of the course. One semester, we went to Ibn Tulun, Sultan Hassan and Refai [mosques], and Coptic Cairo.”  

Mariam Habib, who is currently enrolled in the course, appreciates the chance to complement her interest in history with knowledge on this topic. “The theme of looting was interesting and eye-catching to me from the beginning, especially because I've always been interested in history and the importance of antiquities,” she said. “What I like most about the course is the fact that we learn so much about the different methods of looting, how looters think, how antiquities are smuggled and the importance of cultural identity.”

Kathleen Saville, senior instructor and associate chair of the Department of Rhetoric and Composition who is currently teaching the course for the first time, is enjoying the course and how the students get to know their own culture and visit its historical sites, which they might not have had the chance to visit before.

“Despite being a foreigner, I’ve gone to more sites than any of my students,” she explained. “Maybe this course will engender some interest in the students who’d like to study Egyptology.” Said Saville. “Only a few of the students have been to the pyramids for example, so we are working on helping them to know more about their country. We already went on a field visit to Saqqara.”

Monica Hanna ’04,’07, who studied Egyptology at AUC and received the SAFE [Saving Antiques for Everyone] Beacon Award one (SAFE) for her tireless efforts to publicize and expose the rampant looting of Egypt’s ancient Egyptian, Coptic and Islamic archaeological sites, was invited as a guest speaker during the class, talking to the students more about the dangers of looting antiquities and giving real-life examples.

“This is an excellent course,” said Hanna. “It keeps the students engaged and very-well informed. They actually built a solid background and arguments about the topic, which means that the content of the course is really strong. It’s not an abstract course. It’s very hands-on and triggers the students’ enthusiasm to learn and know more about their own heritage.”

According to Saville, the students were as much impressed with Hanna’s arguments and knowledge as she was with their enthusiasm. They were eager to know more about the real-life problems that the theft of antiquities might cause.

“The students were pretty impressed when Hanna explained how the mafia uses young children in the sites to help them search for antiquities because they can wiggle down in the tunnels,” said Saville. “Sometimes they destroy the sites, and sometimes the sites actually collapse on top of these kids and kill them.”  

 “There is a huge black market in terms of antiquities, and it’s often tied with the mafia,” added McCullough. “There are families in Upper Egypt who make their living by stealing antiquities.”  

An added value of the course and its importance to the students is learning to not only preserve their heritage, but also to value it as part of their own individual identity. “The course has taught me so many things that now I look at antiquities and looting in a very different way than I used to.,” said Habib.

Widely recognized as a hub for cultural and artistic expression, AUC’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HUSS) recently received a $50,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund a series of teaching, research and outreach programs for strengthening public humanities and civic discourse.

Bel Arabi Falsafa (“philosophy in plain Arabic”) is a public humanities venture designed to democratize access to philosophy and change popular perceptions of it not just in Egypt, but also in the Arabic-speaking world as a whole. Its purpose is to bring philosophy to a non-specialist audience, demonstrating the relevance of philosophy and philosophical methodologies to matters of both private interest and public concern.

A Philosophical Vision

The name of the initiative—Bel Arabi Falsafa—points to one of the project’s central goals, which strives to combine philosophy and plain speaking –– concepts that are often considered incompatible in the contemporary Arabic-speaking world.

The goal for the coming year is to host events at cities in the Nile Delta and Upper Egypt. The long-term aim is to establish a visible, active and sustainable presence in Egypt beyond the greater Cairo metropolitan area. Over the next 10 years, Bel Arabi Falsafa events are envisaged to be held in three different governorates every year. The project organizers hope to establish self-sustaining Bel Arabi Falsafa-type events across the MENA region.

The project will also create an online database of curated intellectual content, a portal through which the public may access videos, webinars and Arabic translations of philosophical texts (particularly contemporary philosophical texts, of which only a scant few have been translated) with commentaries. This online repository is intended as a supplement to the ongoing public outreach programs that allow people, who might otherwise not have access, an entry point into the academy.

Philosophical Culture on Campus 

At AUC, Bel Arabi Falsafa will make a significant impact in promoting a culture of philosophical inquiry on campus, where it will serve as an extension of the formal classroom. Undergraduate students who attend Bel Arabi Falsafa will have the opportunity to enrich their study of philosophy and to do so in their native language.

There are numerous perceived benefits to this initiative, including minimizing the perception that philosophy is inherently Eurocentric by preparing students to re-enter English-speaking classrooms with a newfound awareness of how philosophical concepts—especially concepts from contemporary philosophy—can be translated back into their own colloquial idiom and cultural context. Hence, Bel Arabi Falsafa envisions contributing to the teaching and study of philosophy by encouraging AUC’s philosophy classrooms to be more broadly inclusive and bilingual through the example and leadership of its speakers, most of whom are themselves recent graduates of the Department of Philosophy.

The project aims to bring philosophy to a larger audience as well as strengthen the ties between AUC students and the wider community and its concerns, changing perceptions about the field and demonstrating its universal applicability and relevance. 

According to Robert McIntyre, assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy, postdoctoral teaching fellow and project director, participants at Bel Arabi Falsafa events should walk away from the public conversations and lectures with a greater appreciation for the relevance and usefulness of philosophical modes of discourse to their daily lives. The role of speakers and workshop leaders in this project is to place the tools and methods of rigorous philosophical investigation into the hands of the public and to disseminate scholarly knowledge as widely as possible. 

“There is a need, globally, to enhance the quality of civic discourse through sustained public philosophical activity. We can grow and nurture a respect for a diversity of opinions, the willingness to listen to dissenting points of view and intellectual integrity,” McIntyre said.

Student-Led Regional Model

As Bel Arabi Falsafa expands beyond Egypt, AUC’s model will provide an example to instructors in other universities in the MENA region, showing how to engage students in the active construction of philosophical learning. Even at universities that do not have robust graduate and undergraduate programs in philosophy, the Bel Arabi Falsafa model can still be successfully implemented as a teaching tool, McIntyre explained.

Bel Arabi Falsafa is a largely student-led initiative, and the founding members of its planning committee include many uniquely dedicated former and current graduate students: Yossra Hamouda, Hussein Barrada, Wafaa Wali, Sherif Salem, Wassim Sabry and Khadeega Gafar. As McIntyre noted, the initiative provides an opportunity for AUC graduate students involved as lecturers and speakers -- researching, writing and delivering workshop and lecture content and engaging in constructive debate with members of the general public -- to enrich their own educational experience and contextualize philosophical knowledge in a hands-on way.

Mcintyre believes that philosophical engagement is undeniably an essential feature of critical thinking and that it is a primary goal of post-secondary education to cultivate skillful critical thinking. "When students engage their own community by leading and participating in long-form philosophical debates and workshops, they inevitable sharpen their own critical abilities," he explained. "They will discover
that philosophy, though lampooned as idle wordplay—a parlor game for an elite few—is, in fact, at the very heart of human progress and the human experience."

After years of remote study and intermittent contact, AUC successfully signed an agreement with Harvard University to establish long-term relations and increased cooperation, especially between Harvard and AUC's Department of Egyptology. As part of this new partnership, AUC will be hosting a Harvard PhD student in Spring 2019.

During his career, Egyptologist and Harvard Professor George A. Reisner led the Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition and excavated 23 sites in Egypt and Sudan. Today, Harvard carries on Reisner's legacy, strengthening its contact with Egypt through AUC. 

"Its good for Harvard to have this relationship with AUC, as we complement each other wonderfully," explained Salima Ikram, distinguished University professor and Egyptology unit head. "AUC has the on-the-ground research and presence, and Harvard has the professor at the forefront of digital Egyptology,"

Ikram refers to Peter Der Manuelian, Philip J. King professor of Egyptology in the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. He is also director of the Harvard Semitic Museum and founding director of The Giza Project, an international collaboration based at Harvard, serving as a free database for research materials and archaeological records pertaining to the Pyramids and Egypt's Giza Plateau. This digital teaching tool is an important resource for the field. 

"Bringing back Americans and others to study, teach and do research in Egypt and at AUC is a top priority in our quest for excellence as 'Egypt's global University,'" said President Francis Ricciardone. "Our current students, faculty and staff know the many unique attractions of this great country and our fine University.  I invite all to join in re-acquainting the outside world with Egypt, and with AUC.   And, as AUC and Harvard have just agreed -- what better field to advance this precise purpose than Egyptology?"

Manuelian believes the new agreement will enhance Harvard's Egyptology studies and will be an opportunity for Harvard students to study with AUC's distinguished Egyptology Department and gain field experience.

"We are very excited about this new collaborative exchange agreement between Harvard and AUC, and look forward to increased 'traffic' on this two-way street between Cairo and Cambridge," said Manuelian. "Where else to gain additional experience in Egyptology but in Egypt itself?"

Historically and until today, AUC has served as a popular destination for international students interested in learning Arabic, studying Egypt’s long and diverse history, or just looking for an adventure. One of AUC’s current international students is Jayme Reichart, an American pursuing a master's in Egyptology and currently working as a teaching assistant for Lisa Sabbahy, assistant professor of Egyptology, and Fayza Haikal, professor of Egyptology.

News@AUC met with Reichart to learn what brought him to AUC, his passion for the past, his outreach through social media and his future plans.

Q: What got you interested in pursuing a master's in Egyptology at AUC?

A: I grew up in Buffalo, New York, and I had a fascination with the ancient world from a very young age. My friends and family have often told me that I’m an old soul. It started out with the ancient Mediterranean because I loved to read books on Egyptian, Greek and Roman mythology. My parents and grandparents often took me, with my sisters and cousins, to museums. By far, one of my favorites was the Royal Ontario Museum’s Egyptian collection. I knew by sixth grade that I wanted to come to study at AUC because of its location in Egypt and the opportunity to be taught by prominent Egyptologists. Beginning in middle school, I molded my studies to fit the prerequisites for the master's in Egyptology. 

Q: Where did you get your bachelor's, and what did you major in?

A: I studied at Pace University in New York City’s Lower Manhattan. My major was modern languages and cultures, with a focus in French and Spanish. I was also able to fulfill two minors in art history and classical and medieval studies. I completed the first half of my major in New York and the second half in Paris, as I was granted the opportunity to study abroad at the Université de Paris IV – Sorbonne for one year.  My time in New York and Paris has had a lasting impact on my college experience. It allowed me to make friends from around the world and visit many museums, galleries, parks and monuments. Throughout my undergraduate career, I was also fortunate enough to be hired as a volunteer in the Department of Visitor Services at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. My time there allowed me to interact with museum visitors from around the globe and utilize both my language skills and art history knowledge.

Q: What is your focus within Egyptology?

A: My main interests are Egyptian art, architecture, material culture and agency. My interests began with the art of the Ptolemies, the ruling dynasty of Egypt from the 330s B.C. to the Roman conquest in 30 A.D. In terms of dynastic art, I really love the art of the late-Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and the Thutmosides (New Kingdom - 18th Dynasty). I also find the First Intermediate Period, a time when the Egyptian state decentralized, to be of interest, because there are provincial art forms that flourished and act as witnesses to community identity. I think it is important that Egyptian art is not seen as static and unchanging, but nuanced and evolving from the Predynastic to Graeco-Roman Period.

Q: What do you like about AUC?

A: I love to attend the field trips and workshops that are organized by AUC’s Egyptology unit each semester. We have had the opportunity to visit many archaeological sites and take epigraphy lessons. The professors and the faculty in the Department of Sociology, Egyptology and Anthropoloare always very helpful and welcoming. I also love the gardens and architecture of the Tahrir and New Cairo campuses. I care very much about the environment and think the sustainable architecture on New Cairo’s campus is a good reference point for future building projects around the world. It exhibits the way that architecture and nature can be combined to create a learning and working environment that is both eco-friendly and beautiful.   
 

Q: What is your favorite historical site in Egypt?

A: I love temple architecture, especially the cenotaphs (memorial temples) at Abydos built in Sety I and Ramesses II during the New Kingdom. The quality of preservation and color of the relief are phenomenal. The dynamism and naturalism that is achieved by the craftsmen is absolutely breathtaking! Unfortunately, we can only imagine what the temples looked like fully painted and unfragmented in antiquity. They must have been gorgeous, especially when the lamps were burnt at night. I wish I could travel back in time to see all of the monuments and cities of ancient Egypt at their zeniths, especially Memphis, Bubastis, Elephantine, Thebes and Alexandria.
 

Q: Who are your favorite ancient Egyptian gods or goddesses?

A: My favorite ancient Egyptian gods are Khonsu, a moon-god, and Sheshat, the goddess of writing and architecture. My grey cat Khonsusaiah is named after Khonsu. I also have a ginger and white cat Amunherkhepeshef. She is named after the god Amun-Ra and a son of Ramesses II.

Q: What work do you do as a a research assistant for The Theban Mapping Project based at AUC?

A: I am grateful for having the opportunity to work as as a graduate research assistant and linguistic consultant for almost a year at The Theban Mapping Project because I have been able to put my bachelor's and master's studies to good use. I have mostly been helping edit bibliographies and input language data into the The Theban Mapping Project’s Egyptian Archaeological Database. I typically have to research, edit and input lots of different names and bibliographies for each site. It is fascinating to witness the temporal transition of a site’s name from its ancient Egyptian, Greek, Latin and Coptic names to its Arabic, English, French and German names. This project aims to preserve as many of Egypt’s archaeological sites on the web as it can because it is important for current and future scholars and students who wish to study Egypt’s rich history.

Q: Would you encourage other Americans and international students to study abroad at AUC?
 

A: Yes, I would encourage Americans, Erasmus students and other international students interested in Egyptology and the Middle East to study at AUC because there is nowhere better to study these!

Q: Do you think graduate research is something students should pursue?

A: Yes, I think it is great exposure, especially for building familiarity in a profession’s authoritative works. Taking part in research when you are an undergraduate or in a master's program is also super-beneficial, especially if you ever want to pursue a PhD or independent research. Conducting research helps your writing as well. It makes you have to be more succinct and to the point.

Q: What are your goals for the future?

A: Once I have graduated from AUC, I would love to work back in museums again. When I volunteered at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and an art gallery in New York City during my undergraduate studies at Pace University, I loved the inspirational atmosphere, the work environment and engaging with the public. I've had an Egyptian art history blog on Instagram for more than two years now called @egyptologydaily where I write daily blog posts in English, French and Spanish (space permitting), with an aim to expose as many people to not only Egyptian art, but to all art in general. I think the humanities are a vital part of the human experience. In the future, I would also love to apply to Ph.D programs in Egyptian art and archaeology, since it has always been a personal goal of mine to achieve a doctoral degree!
 

Working in diverse fields, from banking and trade to business management and telecommunications, 13 AUC alumnae are named by Forbes Middle East among The Middle East's Most Influential Women of 2018. Focusing on women in executive business and finance positions, as well as women in government departments, this annual list considers the title, scope and impact of the women's work, as well as the revenues of the companies they lead. AUC alumnae continually impress, making important contributions in a variety of sectors and fields within Egypt and abroad. 

Read about these women, their jobs and how they got to where they are today:

#3

LOBNA HELAL '83, '89

Deputy Governor, of Central Bank of Egypt 

Graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a Master of Arts in economics, Lobna Helal is the first woman ever appointed deputy governor of the Central Bank of Egypt. 

#16

 ELHAM MAHFOUZ '84

Chief Executive Officer, Commercial Bank of Kuwait 

Graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in business administration, Elham Mahfouz first worked as a credit manager and deputy chief executive officer at the Commercial Bank of Kuwait before becoming its CEO. 

#20

DALIA EL BAZ '95

Deputy Chair, National Bank of Egypt 

Graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in business administration, Dalia El Baz has been a member of the National Bank of Egypt's executive committee since 2016. She supervised the deployment of the new core banking systems and the centralization of banking operations. El Baz started her banking career at Barclays Bank Egypt.

#23

SAHAR EL DAMATI '76, '79

Managing Director, Union Capital

After graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and Master of Arts in business administration, Sahar El Damati worked in a number of organizations in the banking sector such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), commercial International Bank (CIB) and the World Bank. She went on to be head of the Credit and Portfolio Management department at the Social development fund, deputy managing director, chief risk officer and board member of HSBC Bank followed by deputy chairman and board member at Banque Misr. She is currently holding the position of managing director of Union Capital credit funds, an Egypt-based private equity firm focused on small and medium enterprises.

#24

RAWAN AHMED AL SAID '88

Chief Executive Officer, Takaful Oman 
Chairperson, National Bank of Oman

Graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in economics, Rawan Ahmed has been the chairperson of the National Bank of Oman since 2005. She is also on the board of five other companies. Before her time at the National Bank of Oman, she held the position of non-executive director at ONIC Holding and deputy chief executive officer of the State General Reserve Fund of Oman.

#31

MERVAT ZOHDY SOLTAN '83, '89

Chief Executive Officer, Export Development Bank of Egypt

Graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in business administration, Mervat Soltan worked as the vice president of Deutsche Bank Cairo, as the director of HSBC and as the general manager at Ahli United Bank Egypt before her time at the Export Development Bank of Egypt. 

#45

RASHA EL-AZHARY '97 

Chief Financial Officer, Vodafone Egypt

Graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and a Master of Business Administration, Rasha El Azhary previously served as the development director for Vodafone Qatar, leading the launch of fiber and LTE services. She joined Vodafone in 2003 after working as a senior associate at EFG Hermes. 

#46

HANIA MOHAMED SADEK '82, '90

Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, HSBC Egypt

Graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and a Master of Arts in economics, Hania Sadek has more than 30 years of banking experience. She has worked as the head of the IT Department, head of the Internal Audit Department and head of Operations and Systems at HSBC. 

#47

MARWA EL AYOUTI '98

Chief Financial Officer, Orange Egypt

Graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and a Master of Business Administration from the Maastricht School of Management, Marwa El Ayouti got her start working at Vodafone, taking on her position at Orange Egypt this past April.

#66

HALLA SHAKER SAKR '84

Managing Director, Attijariwafa Bank Egypt

Graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in business administration, Halla Shaker went on to serve as the deputy chief officer of HSBC Egypt before taking on her current position as managing director of Attijariwafa Bank Egypt.

#86

SHAHIRA MAGDI ZEID '83

Co-Founder, Maridive Group
Vice Chair, MZ Investments

Shahira Magdi Zeid graduated from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in business administration. She co-founded the Maridive Group, the largest company providing off-shore marine and oil support services in Egypt. She also is the Vice Chair for MZ investments, a company that provides financial and investment advice to both insitutional and private investors. 

#89

RANA ADAWI '93

Managing Director, Acumen Asset Management

Graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in economics, Rana Adawi co-founded Acumen Holding. Bringing more than 22 years of experience in the financial services industry, her previous roles include head of research in Fleming CIIC Securities.  

#96

SOHA EL TURKY '94, '98 

Chief Financial Officer. Banque du Caire

Graduating from AUC with a Bachelor of Arts in business administration and a Master of Business Administration, Soha El Turky has experience spanning corporate and retail banking. Before taking on her position at Banque du Caire, she worked as the chief financial officer for Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and as the chief financial officer at Citibank.

Last week, the Egyptian Archeological Mission of the Ministry of Antiquities discovered a sandstone sphinx statue from the Ptolemaic era during excavations at the southeastern side of the Kom Ombo temple near Aswan. It was found near the site where two reliefs of King Ptolemy V were recovered two months earlier.

Salima Ikram, distinguished Univeristy professor of Egyptology who was asked to analyze the animal bones at the excavation site, explained the significance of this discovery.  "The team working at Kom Ombo has found some extraordinarily interesting remains, mainly from the Ptolemaic Period," she said. "The sphinx and stelae show us that the exterior area of the temple was an active ritual and cult place, accessible to a large number or people, and that it played an important role in the spiritual, political and economic life of the people of Kom Ombo."

Sphinxes were a symbol of power in ancient Egypt, frequently memorialized through art and sculpture. According to Ikram, for ancient Egyptians, "the sphinx and stelae were visible manifestations of the constant presence and power of the king in their lives, and his close relationship with the gods –– a relationship that should bring prosperity to the land."

Today, discoveries like this give us a small window into the past, allowing us to learn more about ancient Egyptians, their customs and values. 

Eight graduate students from Koc and eight from AUC have attended a summer program in Kavala, Greece, the birthplace of Muhammad Ali Pasha, often referred to as the founder of modern Egypt. AUC students hailed from diverse specializations, including history, literature, Islamic studies and Islamic art and architecture, as well as Middle East studies. 

The AUC students, guided by Distinguished University Professor Nelly Hanna, attended lectures and went on excursions, joined by students and faculty members from Koç University in Turkey. 

The summer program, initiated by the Muhammed Ali Foundation, covered the architecture and history linked to the Muhammad Ali reign in the early 19th century. Muhammad Ali had founded a waqf in Kavala (part of Albania at the time). The waqf recently underwent major repair and is now in use. The summer school took place there.

"Exposure to other cultures is an important part of students' education, beyond what they learn in class," said Nelly Hanna, distinguished University professor in the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations. "This cooperation gives students the opportunity to meet and exchange on academic and on general subjects of common interest. For some, it may lead to further studies in the domains covered."

For the AUC graduate students, the trip was a memorable part of their learning experience. “The whole experience was certainly unforgettable." said Maha Shawki, a graduate student in the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations. "We had the opportunity to build a dialogue and exchange knowledge with Turkish students from Koç University. The classes were held at MOHA Research Center, the only Egyptian waqf property in Europe built by Mohamed Ali, which exposed us to the tangled history of Kavala, Greece and its relationship with the Ottoman Empire. Through the summer school, we learned how to interpret Mediterranean history through the city's monuments and its various layers. Finally, we were privileged to meet Prince Abbas Hilmi and hear about his views and opinions regarding the history and accomplishment of the royal family."