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AUC Couples
 

"Mohamed Safwat and I met on campus as freshmen in the fall of 1994. He proposed to me one beautiful summer day at the Falaki building. We got engaged in 1998, a few months after our June 1998 commencement, and we got married in July 2000. We are blessed to be best friends, lovers and parents to two crazy kids and two even crazier cats."

-- Aliaa M. Abaza '98

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Memorabilia

"AUC used the Channel, a paper for circulation that included all important information for students. We did not have emails."

-- Mona Al-Abiad '89, '10

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Trips
 

"One of the most famous trips at the University was the Luxor and Aswan trip, which always took place between the two-semester recess. Taking the train for 12 hours and trying to visit all the attractions in Luxor and Aswan in five days. Always fun, and memories to hold forever."

-- Nabil Arar '86
 

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Sports
 

"Madame Azhar was a fighter with a huge heart. She always used to encourage us to train when we were at the changing rooms. ... May she rest in peace."

-- Merit Al-Sayed '01

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Lifelong learning

"I am a proud AUCian because the kind and quality of education we get prepares us for life like no other place. The life skills we learned have shaped our personalities."

-- Doha Shawki '95, '98

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Groups

"Thick and thin applies to friendship, not only to marriage. We studied together, stood by each other during heartaches, were together at graduation, attended each other's weddings, watched our kids grow and play with each other, stood by each other during difficult times, attended our children's weddings and will grow old together."

-- Hanan Shahin '87, '97 
 

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Alumni

"AUC makes us proud everywhere, all the time. Every penny was worth it. We pose as pearls of a necklace, scattered yet united by everything genuine."

-- Lamya Ramadan '87, '01 
 

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Performances

"Every performance, every song, every corner of Ewart Hall speak so many memories. So many precious moments with very special individuals whom I call friends for life. No matter how near or rather how far, you are all engraved in my heart. RIP Larry, our mentor and our music keeper. You will never be forgotten! Miss you all so much. Osiris Singers forever."
 

-- Mariam Farag '99 
 

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Students on Campus

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Classrooms

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Athletics

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Library

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The Platform

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Gym

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Group Study

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Food Outlets

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Swimming

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Class Photo

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International Day

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Commencement

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Campus Hangouts
 

Diversity has always been a cornerstone of AUC since its founding. Students of all backgrounds cherish the intercultural exchange and social interaction at the University, not just in the classroom, but in every part of campus.

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Library

The AUC Library started off as a small reading room in 1922. In the 1950s, upon the recommendation of then President Raymond F. McLain and with consent from the Weyerhaeuser family, Hill House no longer served as a student dormitory and was renovated to become a modern library. In 1982, the Greek Campus Library was completed. Today, the library is at the center of AUC's 260-acre campus in New Cairo and houses the largest English-language academic collection in Egypt.

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Miss AUC

The Miss AUC competition, which began in the early 1930s, was an annual campus tradition crowning the "all-round campus girl." At the beginning, the winner was chosen solely based on the amount of votes she collected, but by the 1970s, academic achievement and campus activities were considered too. The coronation ceremony, performed by the previous year's winner, was traditionally followed by a party in the Fountain Area, where the president had the first dance with Miss AUC.

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Classes
 

Initially, AUC was intended to be both a preparatory school and a University. The preparatory school opened in October 1920 with 142 students in two classes that were equivalent to the last two years of an American high school. The first diplomas issued were junior college-level certificates given to 20 students in 1923. AUC enrolled its first female student in 1928, the same year in which the first class graduated, with one Bachelor of Science and two Bachelor of Arts degrees awarded. The first master's degree was awarded in 1950. 
 

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Sports
 

Since its early years, AUC placed an emphasis on athletics and physical training as part of the curriculum to enhance student personalities by building sportsmanship and teamwork. This was uncommon in the Middle East at the time, since people did not correlate sports with a college or university. Despite criticism, students, all males in the early 1920s, were required to take two hours of athletics per week. As they became more skilled, they created a pyramid by standing on each other's shoulders -- an AUC landmark. Each athletic season ended with Sports Day, which began in 1921. 
 

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Recovering vision to the blind, restoring motor function to people with disabilities -- what's the science behind it all? Seif Eldawlatly, associate professor of computer science and engineering, is unlocking new possibilities for people with disabilities and others through his research in the futuristic field of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs).

Now, after 18 years of work in the field, Eldawlatly is helping AUC develop its expertise in BCIs and exploring opportunities to improve everyone's lives. "This field is relatively new, and not many people in Egypt or the region actually work in this research area," he says.

Associate Professor Seif Eldawlatly is introducing the cutting-edge field of brain-computer interfaces to AUC

Technological Trajectory

Eldawlatly's work has evolved alongside the technology. Visual prosthetics work by recreating signals through the brain via implanted electrodes. "Our eyes are almost like a camera taking a picture of what we see, but the actual vision and perception take place in the brain. We understand what we see through the process in our brains," he says. So when the eye malfunctions or stops working due to disease, Eldawlatly says it is possible to control the brain itself by artificially providing the input that was supposed to come from the eye.

A chip attached to wires acting as 30-some electrodes could be implanted in the brain, receiving inputs from an external camera attached to glasses. "That's what the field of visual prosthetics is: We try to use artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver electrical pulses to certain locations in the brain related to vision. If we send the right signals to these locations, people could see again, at least partially," he says.

In his research to supplant motor disabilities, Eldawlatly has mostly used electroencephalogram (EEG) recording headsets, a non-invasive technology that records brain activity through electrical signals picked up by small sensors attached to the scalp.

A subject in Eldawlatly's study wears an EEG headset, photo courtesy of Seif Eldawlatly

In one of Eldawlatly's experiments, people with disabilities were able to write words by selecting letters separated by flickering boxes of varying paces, each of which would elicit a different electrical pulse in the brain.

Once the EEG headset picked up the electrical signals using AI, the computer would produce the correct letter, allowing the person to write using only their brain. In an adjacent project, the EEG detected a spike when the desired character was displayed, providing an alternative system to the flickering boxes. Patients were able to move their wheelchairs using the same technology.

BCI can also be used to enhance daily life for those without disabilities or diseases. Eldawlatly shared the example of an AUC senior project he supervised that was conducted in collaboration with Siemens, enabling emergency braking in vehicles based on brain signals.

"When an emergency-braking situation happens, such as a car in front of us suddenly stopping, many people panic, for say 100 milliseconds, but their brain detects that they need to stop the car even if they don't press the brakes. They hesitate for a moment, and because

of that, an accident might happen," he explains. By detecting the brain pattern corresponding to emergency braking, the car can be stopped, avoiding the accident.

Additionally, Eldawlatly has been developing AI techniques to diagnose the neurodegenerative disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a fatal illness that is usually diagnosed in the later stages. With machine learning algorithms, Eldawlatly's team is working on identifying abnormal patterns in signals from the spinal cord. "If we can diagnose the disease early on, we can start administering drugs to slow its progress, elongating the life of the patient and preventing them from losing all function," he says.

Field of the Future

Much of Eldawlatly's work may sound aspirational and futuristic, far off from the world we live in now. But BCI is already being used around the world, and there are companies already performing chip implantations in the brains of paralyzed patients seeking mobility, or a simulation of mobility. And while Eldawlatly has not worked on invasive procedures outside of animal testing, he believes that the future lies in both invasive BCI, implemented through the surgical insertion of electrodes in the brain, and noninvasive BCI, through external apparatuses such as EEGs.

This is why he emphasizes the need for strict ethical guidelines around BCI practices. Regarding invasive techniques, Eldawlatly says, "All the work being done in this field of research has to follow strict ethical guidelines. Otherwise, if it falls into the wrong hands, the technology might cause issues. However, the good news is that patients have to undergo surgery first, so they have to agree to it."

"We deliver electrical pulses to certain locations in the brain related to vision. If we send the right signals to these locations, people can see again, at least partially."

He added that, whether surgically invasive or not, brain monitoring raises concerns of privacy, so ethics are always a priority. "In both cases, we're getting information about what the brain is trying to do, and the brain, not our face or fingerprint, is the true representation of our identity. So the data should not be used for anything that the subject does not approve," Eldawlatly says.

Though he works in data analysis and not in hardware development, Eldawlatly says that the technology can soon become accessible, with EEG headsets already available at varying price ranges. "Once the industry turns the research into a product, it becomes a reality. It becomes something that everyone is using," he says, comparing BCI to AI, which was not widely known until ChatGPT became publicly accessible -- even though researchers had been developing AI technology for the past century. "Now everyone is using AI, so the same thing might happen in brain-computer interfaces," he says.

By Nahla El Gendy

Data science is a new major at AUC -- the first of its kind in Egypt and the Arab world

 

The first of its kind in Egypt and the Arab world, AUC's undergraduate data science program began in Fall 2019, leading to a Bachelor of Science in data science.

"The advancement of computers and communication technologies has given rise to the availability of massive and complex data from the real world," said Ali Hadi, distinguished University professor and chair of the Department of Mathematics and Actuarial science. "Datasets contain a wealth of knowledge. Data science is the science of extracting knowledge from data."

Data science is a new interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary field. Being a data scientist requires an integrated skill set spanning mathematics, probability, statistics, machine learning, computational science and programming languages, as well as a good understanding of some real-world problem formulation and effective solutions.

A data scientist is a professional who is able to collect the different types and sizes of data -- which come in big volumes -- in a timely and accurate manner, while analyzing this data, solving the problems associated with it and transforming it into useful knowledge. decision makers then use this knowledge to make evidence-based scientific decisions. "In that way, data scientists can be thought of as the link or liaison between the data and decision makers in different fields," said Hadi.

Data science applies to almost every entity in various fields, including national and multinational communication and information technology companies, banks and other financial institutions, and investment companies. it is a rapidly growing field due to the availability of huge and complex real-world data. According to the 2019 CareerCast Jobs rated report, a data scientist is ranked as the top job in the United States in terms of salary, work environment, stress and growth. Linkedin also ranked a data scientist as the Most Promising Job in the United States in 2019.

"Data science is also known as data mining," said Hadi. "Data is like a mine, and the knowledge contained in the data is like the rich minerals of the mine. Failure to retrieve and make sense of the data is like leaving a mine unexplored or misidentifying a diamond for a piece of coal -- hence the term data mining, which preceded the term data science."

The data science program at AUC is a joint venture between the Department of Mathematics and Actuarial science and the department of Computer science and Engineering. "What distinguishes our data science major is AUC's liberal arts program, which is required by all students in all majors," said Hadi. "This enables us to produce well-rounded graduates in the field."

"Data science is the major of the future," said iman Yehia, computer science junior who took the Fundamentals of Data Science course taught by Hadi. "If you study it, you can easily change the world. to me, data science is a mindset."

Freshman Mahmoud Waly, another student in the course, also noted, "As this course was the first of its kind, I didn't know what to expect, but to say the least, I enjoyed every class I attended."

 

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ACROSS

3. The original name of the Alumni Association.

7. Famed Nobel Peace Prize-winning author, whose first
English novel was published by AUC Press.

9. The first student dormitory on AUC's campus.

13. The initial plans for AUC campus were near this location.

14. AUC founder.

17. AUC's first female student, who enrolled in 1928.

18. Original name of the student newspaper, Campus Caravan.

19. In 2000, AUC's Rare Books and Special Collections Library acquired the _____ collection.

DOWN

1. AUC is the top _____ campus in Africa.

2. AUC is the first University in the region to offer a _____ degree, pairing with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education.

4. The first student organization at AUC.

5. The _____, with an emphasis on subjects outside students' majors, was introduced in 1989.

6. The committee charged in 1994 with recommending guidelines and priorities for the future development of the University, ultimately deciding on the relocation to the New Cairo campus.

8. The first play ever produced on campus.

10. The University mascot.

11. AUC's first _____ took place in 1923.

12. Acronym for the world's premier, full-immersion Arabic-language program that opened at AUC in 1967.

15. The leading University-based startup accelerator and incubator in Africa and the MENA region.

16. Sandstone for the walls of campus buildings is all from a single quarry in Kom Ombo, 50 kilometers north of _____.

17. AUC held its last undergraduate commencement in _____ Hall in 1988.

WORD BANK:

14. CHARLESWATSON, 13. PYRAMIDSOFGIZA, 8. MONSIEURBEAUCAIRE, 7. NAGUIBMAHFOUZ, 12. CASA, 15. VENTURELAB, 17ACROSS. EVAHABIBEL-MASRI, 18. THEAUCREVIEW, 9. HILLHOUSE, 11. COMMENCEMENT, 10. EAGLE, 3. OLDBOYSCLUB, 6. CENTURYCOMMITTEE, 1. GREEN, 19. VANLEO, 4. STUDENTUNION, 16. ASWAN, 2. BLENDED, 17DOWN. EWART, 5. CORECURRICULUM

 

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By Claire Davenport

When Charles Watson, AUC's first president, founded The American University at Cairo 100 years ago, he originally had his sights set on a campus by the Pyramids of Giza, offering secondary and University-level education. Today, AUC has expanded into a different side of the desert, growing from 142 students when it first opened its doors in October 1920 to a thriving student body of almost 7,000 students.
 

Property initially owned by AUC in Giza, where the campus was first going to be located.

From the beginning, AUC was committed to implementing a new method of schooling in Egypt, broadening the definition of learning by striving to serve its host country and the greater international world. Founded in 1919 by Charles Watson, the University has continually proved its dedication to both American and Egyptian values. Born to missionary parents and raised in Egypt, Watson wanted to establish a University with Christian values based on American institutions and catered toward Egypt. Its original mission to be a gateway between the United States and the Middle East, to give back to its community and to endow generations of students with creativity, critical thinking and a well-rounded character makes AUC what it is today -- Egypt's global University. 
 

Liberal Arts: Reimagining the College Program
 

Watson was a man who believed that good character could be learned and that freedom of discussion promotes creativity and ingenuity. Stemming from these beliefs was his desire to establish an interdisciplinary, value-oriented University that would encourage strength of character and provide quality education. Establishing a University is no small feat, especially a private international institution with AUC's caliber. 
 

Charles Watson, AUC's founding president.

"What set Watson's ideas apart from the hundreds of other foreign-run institutions in Egypt, however, was a determination that the new institution also should be a university offering advanced professional training in such fields as education, engineering, commerce, journalism, theology and law."
 

When the University was founded, Egypt's system of higher education consisted of professional schools with specialized programs in law, the arts and the sciences. There were also no liberal arts substitutes for the specialized schools available, so Watson's vision to build AUC on the American concept of a four-year, undergraduate liberal arts curriculum was a deviation from the norm. As Lawrence Murphy noted in The American University in Cairo, 1919-1987, "What set Watson's ideas apart from the hundreds of other foreign-run institutions in Egypt, however, was a determination that the new institution also should be a university offering advanced professional training in such fields as education, engineering, commerce, journalism, theology and law."

An important element of the American liberal arts education Watson called for was diversified studies. In the early years of AUC's founding, science majors took English and social science courses, and the University's public-service-oriented curriculum ensured that students were equipped with social science skills to meet Egypt's needs. "Specialization was, therefore, discouraged," Murphy noted. "Students studied as many subjects as possible, familiarizing themselves with the major concepts of each discipline through required courses in science, literature, philosophy, and the social sciences. ... At the same time, however, each pupil was required to study Arabic to remain in contact with his own society." The curriculum also focused on character building, including moral and religious studies, as well as physical training and athletics to develop sportsmanship, teamwork and positive health practices among students. 
 

In the beginning, classes were kept small. Students had weekly meetings with professors, and essays were emphasized more than exams. As Watson explained in the University's 1933 commencement address, "It [education] calls for the abandonment of the memorizing system of education." Watson implemented these policies to ensure that students were able to get the most out of their liberal arts studies.
 

Hands-on curricula also distinguished AUC as an institution. As Murphy noted, "One AUC objective was to introduce new instructional techniques into the Middle East." Instead of memorization, AUC faculty members used a variety of methods to make their classes thought-provoking, participative and hands-on. In science classes, each student was given his own apparatus to perform his own experiments and prove the validity of scientific theories -- a costly initiative uncommon in Egypt at the time, when most science courses were taught through demonstrations by the professor. Science students also visited factories in Cairo and formed their own Science Club. Similarly, English professors encouraged students to speak in English through Speak English on Campus campaigns and a campus spelling bee that was sometimes broadcast on the local radio station. Desserts were also offered to those who spoke English during the lunch hour. In journalism classes, articles and pictures were first posted on a bulletin board, then students issued the first University newspaper, The AUC Review, in 1925 -- a four-page paper covering AUC personalities, news for the student body, official announcements and editorials on campus issues. The AUC Review also started sponsoring the Miss AUC Contest in 1931. In addition, classes and student clubs sometimes put on programs during the daily assemblies. 
 

These efforts have consistently paid off. In 1930, nearly 75 percent of AUC students who sat for the government examinations passed, and AUC graduates were admitted for advanced work in countries such as the United States, Britain, Switzerland, France and Germany. In addition, New York State recognized AUC's Junior College Certificate, issued after studying for two years at the University, as being equivalent to two years of American college work. This qualified AUC students for admission to professional schools in the United States. 
 

Today, liberal arts remains at the heart of an AUC education. Most students earn a third of all credits outside of their major or minor requirements. Through the Core Curriculum, all students take courses in writing; language and information literacy; philosophic and scientific thinking; Arab history; literature and society; and foundational classes in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. Through these diversified courses, students debate new ideas and actively participate in class discussions, helping them make connections across their studies, encouraging them to think critically and develop a creative approach to problem solving, and equipping them with lifelong skills to excel in our fast-paced world. This American-style, inquiry-based liberal arts education -- emphasizing a learning-by-doing approach and teaching students not what to think, but how to think -- is what Watson had laid emphasis on from the beginning. In our modern world, as was the case in the University's early years, AUC's alumni continue to pursue graduate studies at top universities abroad. They distinguish themselves across the world as leaders, innovators and change agents, from heads of state, ministers and philanthropists to business founders, scientists, artists and global champions.
 

"AUC owes a duty to the community in which it is located."

Cocurriculars: Beyond the Classroom

AUC also offers its students something very distinct within the region: a cocurricular education. Participating in activities outside of the classroom was valued by the University's first administration, and students were expected to join at least one club in the early years. Throughout its history, AUC developed a diversity of cocurricular clubs: the Student Union, AUC's earliest organization that was mainly focused on community service as well as moral and religious issues; the Ramses and Penatur societies, which emphasized literature; the French-oriented Moliere Club in the mid-1920s; the popular Maskers Club; the International Relations Club; and the Folklore Troupe in the 1960s. 
 

Out of all cocurricular activities, theatre especially flourished. The first play ever to be produced on campus was Monsieur Beaucaire, performed during the commencement exercise of 1926. Going forward, students began to see theatre as a place to feel out new perspectives and possibilities while practicing English.
 

C. Worth Howard, the second head of AUC's English Department and after which Howard Theater in AUC Tahrir Square has been named, promoted drama to not only improve spoken English among students, but also as a form of self-expression. "Plays were presented at assemblies in conjunction with commencement, and for the general public," Murphy wrote. "Students took all the parts, with boys playing female roles when necessary. They also constructed the scenery, distributed tickets and handled all other aspects of the production." 
 

Students were also required to attend weekly assembly lectures that included anything from performances to ethical talks by distinguished visitors. An end-of-year essay contest measured what students learned from the talks, and notable speakers included Egyptian feminist Madame Bahmy Bey Wissa, boxing champion Gene Tunney and commander of the U.S. Navy Admiral Roger Welles. The assemblies also included singing, music, plays and programs by classes or student clubs. In addition, Sports Day, initiated in 1921, saw AUC students competing in drill exercises, tug-of-war, races, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, jumping, tumbling and lifting weights, as well as throwing the discus and javelin.
 

For AUC instructors, this was all evidence that some of the most significant learning experiences take place outside of the classroom. Indeed, faculty members began to take students on field trips. One year, Professor Erdman Harris took a group of students on weekends to areas within Egypt experiencing health and sanitation problems to study the relationship between these conditions and infant mortality, disease and dysentery. Another class taught by Harris surveyed the social agencies in Cairo. Years later, students who participated in these cocurricular activities noted that such projects "stimulated their first interest in solving their country's many social problems," as Murphy noted. These initiatives reflected the faculty's desire to equip students to carry on the legacy of inquiry in the future, using their studies to improve life within Egypt.
 

A century later, cocurriculars remain one of the distinctive aspects of an AUC education. AUC's 60 student-run organizations reflect the diverse interests of the student body, ranging from community service, academic, culture and special interests to student government and conferences. The University also has several student-run publications, including the Caravan newspaper and AUC Times magazine.

Emphasizing the importance of activities outside of the classroom, AUC recently launched the cocurricular transcript, the first-of-its-kind in the Middle East. A model found at U.S. universities, AUC's cocurricular transcript formalizes and officially documents the wide array of cocurricular activities in which students participate. This includes not just student organizations, but also participation in orientation, the Undergraduate Research Program, Career Center, Academic Community Engagement courses and athletics. In conjunction with traditional academic transcripts, the cocurricular transcript is intended to give a more dynamic and holistic perspective on students. 
 

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Education as a Public Service: Filling the Void 
 

AUC has always been dedicated to improving life in Egypt. Watson once said that "AUC owes a duty to the community in which it is located," and the expansion of education and commitment to philanthropy have only increased throughout the years. According to Watson's address at the graduation exercises of the College of Arts and Sciences, AUC has "a duty to perform and a service to render not merely to those who are enrolled as regular students, but to the community and the public at large." Along this line, AUC hosted a range of training programs and educational initiatives for Egyptians, mainly through its 95-year-old School of Continuing Education, which was originally called the Division of Extension.
 

In 1924, the Division of Extension was established to house evening lectures and program series that would benefit society, with a particular emphasis on public health and welfare issues. From the beginning, the Division of Extension was supposed to deal with "Mr. Public," as Watson described it, and its motto was to "educate all the people." Hosting a range of popular public lectures and cultural events, the Division of Extension strengthened AUC's impact on the life and culture of downtown Cairo. 
 

First envisioned by Watson as a public service component of AUC, the Division of Extension began as a forum for lectures by well-known speakers, such as Egyptian intellectual Taha Hussein. Speakers focused on topics of "immediate concern to Egypt," including population growth, education, and social and economic reform. In addition to lectures and film screenings, the Division of Extension worked on improving people's well-being through village health contests and a campaign to prevent blindness. 
 

In the 1940s, the Division of Extension was also referred to as the "evening college." After almost two decades, it was renamed the Division of Public Service, offering noncredit programs in business, consumer education, playwriting, language studies, accounting, fine arts, family education and secretarial administration. 
 

• Registration in the early years
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In the 1980s, the Division of Public Service grew tremendously under the guidance of Ralph Nelson, dean of adult and continuing education, expanding its offerings in Arabic and business; creating its own English-language curriculum, tailored to the needs of Arabic speakers; introducing one-year and two-year professional certificates, not just individual courses; and initiating evaluative techniques for faculty members, as well as English proficiency entrance exams for participants. 
 

• AUC's first soccer team, March 1922
• Athletics and physical exercise were a core part of AUC's curriculum

The Division of Public Service later became known as the Center for Adult and Continuing Education, and expanded during AUC President Richard Pedersen's tenure to include outreach and full-time career programs in different parts of Egypt, such as Alexandria and Tanta, as well as the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. In 2006 - 2007, the center was renamed the School of Continuing Education, enrolling approximately 20,000 students per year. With its diversity of programs and offerings, the School of Continuing Education is fulfilling Watson's vision of a University that would provide service to a wide spectrum of the Egyptian public. 
 

Out of all cocurricular activities at AUC, theatre especially flourish

The Division of Extension was not the only organization focused on delivering educational opportunities. In 1921, the School of Oriental Studies was established to offer noncredit Arabic courses to foreigners. AUC's first graduate degree in 1950, a Master of Arts in Arabic language and literature, was offered through the School of Oriental Studies, which was incorporated in the 1960s into the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as the Center for Arabic Studies. In addition, in 1926, the Education Department provided teachings in modern educational philosophy and instructional techniques. The department created the Journal of Modern Education, "the first magazine in the Arabic language devoted to the general discussion of modern education and the adaptation of progressive principles to the educational problems of the Near East," as displayed on its cover in 1928. Later years saw the creation of the Management Extension Services in the 1970s for governments and companies throughout the Middle East. Management Extension Services offered custom training and courses in whatever language suited the client, "filling a significant educational void," as Murphy noted.
 

Continuing a Legacy
 

Today, AUC is still a symbol of international friendship and collaboration, with students, faculty and visitors from all over the globe. But beyond this, AUC has continually set itself apart as an institution devoted to excellence in all areas.
 

Egypt's Minister of Education at the time Taha Hussein speaks at AUC in the 1950s

Watson's original vision was a school where students gain not just knowledge, but also the ability to relate the things they learn to real life, as well as the motivation to pursue independent thinking and creativity. Looking back on the past 100 years, we can see how Watson's vision is still alive today and will continue to influence future generations of students. AUC will not only continue on the same track, but will keep progressing -- ushering in a new century of excellence, innovation and service.
 

The Early Days

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Charles R. Watson

Charles Watson led a life dedicated to the expansion of education and the promotion of Christian values abroad and specifically in Egypt. Born in Egypt on July 17, 1873, Watson received his early education in the country and his PhD from Princeton University's Theological Seminary in 1899. He began his career by taking charge of a mission church in Pittsburgh.

Later, he worked as a teacher and pastor, promoting the works of his church at home and abroad. He was an active member of the Near East Christian Council, a special representative for the Foreign Ministry Board of North America at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, and was part of an Egyptian commission to study a program of national education for the country in the early 1930s. He studied the educational system in Egypt in the early 1900s, and in 1915, organized the Board of Trustees of The American University at Cairo. The legacy of his life and values are still felt through the University today.

Liberal Arts

"We must have original and creative minds. To develop such minds is to render a supreme service to the country. Yet, this is no easy task. It calls for constant encouragement of the student to think for himself. It calls for the abandonment of the memorizing system of education. It calls for examinations and research work that will encourage independent thinking. It calls for discussions in classrooms and not mere recitations."

"The Place and Program of
The American University at Cairo,"
Commencement Address
May 26, 1933

"Our institution is here to serve Egypt and the population of Egypt. ... The full recognition of this point is fundamental to any consideration of our program and plans. ... The American University at Cairo has from the beginning laid a unique emphasis on character training in education. ... Our education is directed not merely to the student's head and intellect, but also to his heart and moral character."

The Graduation Exercises,
The College of Arts and Sciences
June 5, 1925

Cocurriculars

"No one may secure the diploma of this University without doing more than merely pass examinations on a subject matter. He must give evidence of a total development of life and character that makes him worthy of being called a college graduate. This general development we endeavor to secure by what we call our extracurricular activities."

"The Place and Program of
The American University at Cairo,"
Commencement Address
May 26, 1933

"In our education here, we strive to maintain and even deepen sympathy with the outside world. Not only are our social studies organized for an examination into the problems of Egypt, but the students are taken out to visit hospitals and orphanages, villages and the poorer sections of the city, prisons and factories, so that they may possess this quality so important for every leader, namely, sympathy with the people. ... Sometimes we are criticized for the large place we give in our curriculum to character training, to studies in ethics and to extracurricular activities, but we are persuaded that no part of our training is more important or will contribute more richly to the abiding goal of an independent Egypt."

"The Student, The School, and the Nation,"
Commencement Address
May 28, 1937

Public Access to Education

"Our Division of Extension has been developed in recognition of Mr. Public and of his opinion. It not only recognizes his importance, but it also believes that he can be educated and that, if educated, he can become the greatest force [in] the improvement of a country. That is why this University, through its Division of Extension, has sought to affect public opinion by lectures, by the printed page, by the cinema, by radio, by general gatherings and, again, by smaller forums."

"The Place and Program of
The American University at Cairo,"
Commencement Address
May 26, 1933

"The Department of University Extension ... has for its motto, 'Educate all the people.' In opposition to the familiar business term, '--- Company, Limited,' it has been called 'Education, Unlimited."

The Graduation Exercises,
The College of Arts and Sciences
June 5, 1925

 

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Education and Empowerment: Alumni in this category show outstanding creativity, commitment and inspiration in educational systems and empowering endeavors. They promote and advance the skills needed to produce successful 21st-century leaders.

Crossing Cultures

Freeman Hrabowski (SAB '69)

Study Abroad

President, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Freeman Hrabowski's time studying abroad at AUC made him realize that "the world is not simply black and white"

Freeman Hrabowski's time studying at AUC with his girlfriend, Jacqueline Coleman, may sound at first like a typical study-abroad experience: "The people were very embracing, the students were kind to us, and we were fascinated by the Egyptian culture," he says. But, in many ways, their semester abroad was extraordinary. Hrabowski and Coleman, now his wife of nearly five decades, are African American. They arrived in Egypt during their junior year of college in January 1969, just months after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and during a time of fraught American politics at home and abroad.

The conversations they would have at AUC shifted their view of themselves, their communities back home and the world itself. "Things are never simple; that's the lesson you learn as you go to other cultures. Everyone is seeking the truth, and yet the interpretations may be different," says Hrabowski, a mathematician who has been president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County since 1992. Hrabowski has been named by TIME among the 2009 Best 10 College Presidents and the 2012 World's 100 Most Influential People. He was also named among the 2011 Top American Leaders by The Washington Post and the Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership.

From an early age, Hrabowski was deeply engaged on issues of race in the United States. He was jailed as a child for participating in civil rights protests in Birmingham, Alabama. The conversations he had about race while in Egypt were unique. He and Coleman weren't perceived as African Americans there, he says. People often assumed that she was Egyptian and that he was Ethiopian. Meanwhile, they were meeting people from all over the world who carried their own experiences of race, culture and religion. "It was the first time we realized that the world is not simply black and white," he says. "We came to understand the commonality of the human experience."

Hrabowski felt the responsibility of being a representative of the United States. Talking with his classmates about American politics gave him an opportunity to reaffirm what he thought about his own country. "It was really good for them to see that we were proud, to say that, 'Yeah, while we have problems, we believe in our country,'" he says. "We were proud Americans who had experienced discrimination, but who had hope that things could be better."

Today, Hrabowski makes deliberate efforts to connect with people from abroad studying on his campus and to help them find a community of their own. He knows the challenges and opportunities that arise from such an opportunity. "As students come to this country or study abroad, they have the chance to understand another perspective," he says. "The people who are privileged to have those experiences also have a responsibility to become a bridge between or among cultures."

 

Window onto the World

Lisa Anderson (CASA '76)

Arabic

"What AUC does is special for Egypt"

Lisa Anderson is best known within the AUC community as the first woman to lead the University as president. But in 1976, Anderson was a summer student at AUC's Center for Arabic Study Abroad -- "far and away the most prestigious program you could aspire to attend if you studied Arabic." There was "no air conditioning," and the rooms were "really, really hot," but "the professors were so important to me, and they were major figures in the field." When she returned to her doctoral program at Columbia University, she felt transformed.

The University itself has been transformed in many ways since then -- the classrooms are cooler, for one -- but certain things hold true, says Anderson, who is now a special lecturer and dean emerita at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs: "In many ways, AUC is the world's window into Egypt and Egypt's window onto the world."

The future of higher education is global and competitive, Anderson says. The world's first-rate institutions will form a network for sharing ideas and new ways of teaching. AUC belongs among them. "The University has a responsibility, really, to ensure that the research access, the faculty mobility, the student exchanges and so forth can be sustained over time."

The University brings ideas and thought leaders into Egypt in a way that is distinct from the work of nongovernmental organizations, private businesses or government agencies. "It really is there to serve the Egyptian people," Anderson says. "What AUC does is special for Egypt, and it also serves, in a subtle way, as a kind of promoter of Egypt in the rest of the world."

 

Hoda Badran '57

Social Studies

Serving as the first secretary-general of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, Hoda Badran has received multiple awards for her impactful work, including the UNESCO Award for Distinguished Women in 1995 and the Emirates Women Union Award for Leadership in Women Activities in 1994. She was elected by more than 150 countries for two terms as the first chair of the International Committee on the Rights of the Child at the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue. She is currently chair of the Egyptian Feminist Union.

 

Iman Bibars '81, '88

Political Science

Iman Bibars is the vice president of Ashoka Global; regional director of Ashoka Arab World, which she launched in 2003; and co-founder and chair of Egypt's first microfinance organization, Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women. With a PhD in development studies from Sussex University and more than 30 years of experience in strategic planning, policy formulation and community development, Bibars has worked with a range of nonprofit organizations, including UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services and CARE Egypt. She focused her career on giving a voice to marginalized groups and strengthening the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Middle East. Her writings on gender and entrepreneurship have been published nationally and internationally.

 

Madiha El Safty '72, '76

Sociology-Anthropology

The late Madiha El Safty was a sociology faculty member at AUC for 40 years. She served as chair of the Alliance for Arab Women as well as a member of the National Council for Women's Civil Society Committee and Committee for the Development of the Minya Governorate. She has more than 90 publications, including those written for the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia and the Aga Khan Foundation

 

 

Maya Morsy '95

Political Science

Maya Morsy is president of Egypt's National Council for Women, which formulates and monitors national plans and provides policy solutions for the empowerment and advancement of women. With extensive experience at the United Nations Development Programme, Morsy served as the regional adviser on gender policies and programs at its Regional Centre for Arab States in Cairo and as regional gender team leader for its regional bureau in New York and regional center in Amman. She was also country manager for the United Nations Development Fund for Women and a consultant for the Girls Education and Empowerment Project of Egypt's Ministry of Education.

Digging Deep

Salima Ikram (YAB '86)

Study Abroad

Salima Ikram was a study-abroad student at AUC and is now head of its Egyptology Unit

There is no better place to study Egyptology than in Egypt itself. Salima Ikram knew this when she attended AUC as an international student in the 1980s and decided once and for all to pursue a career in the field. Now a distinguished University professor of Egyptology, she experiences the magic of Egypt each time she introduces her students to an ancient image of an object and then asks them, "Ok, would you like to go see where it is, in its original context?"

AUC offers a "unique chance to do Egyptology the way you can't really anywhere else," Ikram says, during a break in her work directing a dig at the tomb of Amenmesse in the Valley of the Kings. And it's not just about seeing the important sites. For students from abroad, it's also about experiencing the desert, seeing how a storm there behaves and how your body and mind react to it, she says. "I think that 90 percent of a culture is based on the people's reaction and interaction with the environments."

The renown of AUC's Egyptology program and the fact that courses are taught in English make it easy to attract visiting scholars who bring a wide range of expertise. "It's very important that one should not only be exposed to one's own professors, but to as many ways of thinking as possible," Ikram says. "That gives one mental flexibility."

Ikram believes strongly in the University's identity as a liberal arts University, a place where people come to think differently, read critically and argue cogently. Without a focus on those skills, "humanity loses," she says. "We must try and uphold the values and the ideals and the nuts and bolts of a liberal arts education -- and push this forward."

 

Opening Doors

Eva Habib el-Masri '31

Bachelor of Arts

Eva Habib el-Masri is the first female student to enroll at AUC

 

As the first co-ed at AUC, Eva Habib el-Masri was a pioneer, paving the way for future female students who now make up 56 percent of the nearly 7,000 students enrolled at AUC.

Born in an upper-middle-class family, el-Masri's decision to come to AUC was supported by her father, who said to his friends later on, "I believe that education is an end in itself, and not just a means to an end. Since this was her own choice, I would not stand in her way."

Born in an upper-middle-class family, el-Masri's decision to come to AUC was supported by her father, who said to his friends later on, "I believe that education is an end in itself, and not just a means to an end. Since this was her own choice, I would not stand in her way."

She recounts her first day, standing on a side street opposite AUC and becoming nervous. "I was half tempted to return home," she confessed. "Little did I know as I dashed through the crowd and ran up those stairs that I was building up my inward strength and influencing my future destiny!" After submitting her application, she recalled AUC President Charles Watson saying to her, "Upon you will depend whether we accept other girls or not."

At AUC, she was a member of the University orchestra, Glee Club, Debating Society, International Relations Club and Cosmopolitan Club. She was also editor-in-chief of The AUC Review during her time at the University. She was named valedictorian at her commencement, and later became editor-in-chief of the bi-weekly Arabic magazine Al-Misriyyah, founded by the leader of the Egyptian Feminist Union, Hoda Shaarawi.

El-Masri was the first Egyptian to join Smith College in the United States, finishing a master's in sociology in one year -- an achievement unmatched by any foreign student at that time. She later became a successful librarian at New York University. When reflecting on her life's accomplishments, el-Masri said, "God bless The American University in Cairo for all that with which it has enriched my life and the lives of the hundreds of co-eds who have entered its gates after me."

 

Nevenka Korica (MA '99)

Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language

Nevenka Korica is director of the Center for Arabic Study Abroad program at Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies. She previously served as executive director of CASA at AUC. She also worked as a translator and news announcer in the Arabic service at Radio Yugoslavia. She is the co-author of Media Arabic: A Course Book for Reading Arabic News (AUC Press, 2014) and Umm al-Dunya: Advanced Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (AUC Press, 2013).

 

Up and Coming

Graduates of the last 15 years (2004 onward)

 

Amin Ashraf Marei '11

Business Administration

 

Amin Marei is the associate director of Professional Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) as well as co-founder and director of the Middle East Professional Learning Initiative, one of the largest international initiatives at HGSE. A teaching fellow at Harvard, Amin developed HGSE's professional education multiplier model, the MEPLI Fellowship, and managed the development of Harvard University's first professional education courses in Arabic.

 

Seif Abou Zaid '08, '17

Political Science; Public Policy

 

Seif Abou Zaid is the co-founder and CEO of Mavericks school in Egypt, which utilizes personalized and self- directed learning, real-life experiences and hands-on activities -- celebrating student strengths. "I was always interested in education as a vehicle for liberation and empowerment," says Abou Zaid, who previously worked in two education startups, including being co-founder and CEO of Tahrir Academy, one of the region's biggest online educational platforms.

 

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The Biggest Startup event of the year at AUC

 

By Nahla El Gendy

AUC was the main partner and host of #RiseUpSummit19, the one-stop-shop event connecting startups in the Middle East and Africa. Held at AUC New Cairo for the first time, the event featured more than 20 of AUC's alumni and faculty members as guest speakers.

In his speech at the opening of RiseUp Summit 2019, AUC President Francis Ricciardone emphasized the University's role in inspiring its students to utilize their education to better serve Egypt and the communities around them. "At AUC, Egypt's global University, we bring the world back to Egypt and we bring Egypt to the world -- and not only for tourism, which is a wonderful thing, but for learning, creating, researching and developing projects and products that will improve lives. That's what AUC is about. This is the right place for RiseUp Summit 2019," said Ricciardone.

In its seventh edition, the summit bustled with the region's top entrepreneurs, startups, investors, creative masterminds and Fortune 500 companies. This year's summit built on past ones, focusing on the Journey to Growth as its main theme, as well as drawing the line between the past, present and future. The three-day summit included talks and panels, in-depth workshops, boot camps, networking sessions with hundreds of investors, as well as talent matchmaking and exclusive satellite events.

Alumni in leading positions across different fields spoke at the event, including Maged Farrag '93, creative and managing director of 5dVR; Sahar Salama '95, founder and CEO of TPAY Mobile; Mohamed Rahmy '03, managing director of Endeavor Egypt; Yaseen Abdel Ghaffar '10, founder and managing director of SolarizEgypt; and Myrna Fahim '16, lead developer advocate for IBM in Egypt and Morocco.

International figures in various fields also took to the stage, including Brian Collins, chief creative officer and founder of COLLINS; Gerardo Mazzeo, global innovation director at Nestle; Karen Cheng, head of social at 9GAG; Marcel Muenster, founder and director of The Gritti Fund; Raya Abirached, TV presenter; and Samih Sawiris, board chairman of Orascom Development Holding.

"It feels very nostalgic to be back on campus for the RiseUp Summit this year," said Islam Shawky '15, CEO and co-founder of Paymob, an infrastructure technology enabler providing payment solutions. "I began school in 2008, so AUC New Cairo is the only campus I know. We started our company on this campus, as the six members of the founding team are AUC graduates -- so we are extremely nostalgic."

Among the workshops that took place throughout the entrepreneurial marathon was one held by Kim Fox, professor of practice in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, titled What You Need to Know About Starting Your Own Podcast.

"I'm such a fan of the RiseUp Summit because it brings together the vibrant community of thought leaders, creatives and more," said Fox. "The energy is contagious and inspiring. The ability to reach out to other attendees and speakers for potential collaborations and knowledge sharing is achievable and encouraging. It was nice to see so many of my former students and colleagues there."

Ramez Youssef, chief creative officer and co-founder of Tayarah, a creative production agency, also held a workshop titled From Trendsetters to Trend-Seekers. "RiseUp Summit feels so different this year being at AUC New Cairo. The content is also different," he said. "Overall, it was a great experience."

Startups from the AUC Venture Lab (V-Lab), Egypt's first university-based startup accelerator and a leading accelerator in the Middle East and Africa, also participated in the summit. In a special booth for the V-Lab, graduates of this year's cycle shared their experiences with the attendees and highlighted the impact of their businesses on the Egyptian economy.

"The AUC Venture Lab had a strong presence at the RiseUp Summit this year, with more than 24 startups presenting their innovations to the summit participants, investors and international partners," said Ayman Ismail '95, '97, Abdul Latif Jameel Chair in Entrepreneurship, associate professor at AUC's School of Business and founding director of the V-Lab. "AUC also announced that it will be launching a new platform for innovation, focusing on attracting corporate innovation labs to be based on campus and expanding collaboration with AUC faculty and students. Our end goal is to create a collaborative community of entrepreneurship and innovation at AUC and Egypt."

RiseUp Summit 2019 held a competition for the best educational applications at the event, where AGORA, a V-Lab startup, ranked first and won the African App Launchpad Cup and a monetary prize. AGORA is an ed-tech app that empowers children to explore the world around them and learn from it through augmented reality. The summit also included a Creative Marketplace featuring some of Cairo's creative startups that displayed their products, including Doodle Factory.

 

By Nahla El Gendy

A smart -- and comfortable -- hospital gown to track a patient's vital signs

 

It all started three years ago when Mariam Ibrahim '19, graphic design graduate, fell off her beach buggy and was diagnosed with brain hemorrhage, a broken collarbone and a compressed spinal cord.

"My doctors had no idea if I was going to live for the next two or three days, so they asked me to leave the Intensive Care Unit to say goodbye to my family and friends," said Ibrahim.

While taking her out of the ICU, Ibrahim's sister had to cover her back, which was bare due to the open-back hospital gown she was wearing. "That was too hilarious for me to understand," said Ibrahim. "I was under the effect of anesthesia, so I took things lighter than I should have, but I thought this was totally impractical."

Contrary to the doctors' predictions, Ibrahim recovered, and two years later, she started her graphic design thesis project at AUC. Her main drive was to design a comfortable and practical medical product for patients. "I wanted to see how far graphic design can help in the medical field," she said.

With the support of her own doctors, Ibrahim worked on designing a smart medical gown, Hale. derived from the words exhale and inhale, the name hale means strong and healthy. "It seemed like a good fit for my project, as I didn't really want to brand it. I just wanted to have a suitable name for it," said Ibrahim.

driven by her belief that a hospital gown should appeal to both the patient and medical personnel, Ibrahim conducted multiple focus groups in Egypt with patients, nurses and doctors -- formally and informally -- in order to come up with a product that caters to their needs and improves a patient's sense of well-being in the hospital.

"During my hospital stay, I had a lot of problems with the gown itself," Ibrahim reflected. "I had a problem with the gown's texture, sheerness and functionality. the nurses had to take off my gown for the simplest of procedures, which just didn't make any sense to me."

Ibrahim developed Hale as a series of garments equipped with sensors to track a patient's vital signs while in the hospital. Hale consists of three different gowns, covering the three stages of patient recovery in relation to the notion of dress. the first gown is disposable to be used before, during and immediately after surgery, and the second is the launderable gown, designed for stable patients. Finally, the upgraded sensor gown tracks the patient's blood oxygen level, body temperature, position and pulse, relaying the readings onto a web application that updates every 10 to 30 seconds, depending on the Wi-Fi signal and changes in readings. An average reading is then recorded, and a history page is available to map out the vital signs throughout the day. When the readings are outside of the normal range, a registered health care professional is notified via email.

Ibrahim's project was featured on CNN and at the Global Grad Show in Dubai. designed under the supervision of professional doctors and nurses in accordance with regulations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Hale is designed to meet the needs of health care professionals while considering the patient's psychological state.

"Hale tries to address issues with the currently intrusive health monitoring system," Ibrahim said. "it makes the patient feel more in control and the doctor satisfied by the continuous monitoring of vital signs."