The American University In Cairo announced the appointment of Columbia University Professor Lisa Anderson, a specialist on politics in the Middle East and North Africa, as its next provost. Professor Anderson succeeds Dr. Earl (Tim) Sullivan who has been AUC provost since 1998 and professor of political science at AUC since 1973.
As AUC's chief academic officer, Anderson will be responsible for shaping and implementing AUC’s academic vision and continuing to build the size and quality of its faculty. As the region’s premier liberal arts institution, AUC enrolls more than 5000 students and has a full time faculty of 400. The university will be moving to a new $400 million campus this year.
AUC President David D. Arnold said that the appointment of an academic leader of Anderson's stature is a reflection of AUC's increasing prestige internationally as an institution of higher education. "Professor Anderson has been a leader in higher education in the United States for the past several decades," Arnold said, "AUC is fortunate to have attracted a respected academic and experienced administrator of her caliber as we prepare to embark on a second century of leadership in higher education in Egypt and the Arab Region."
"I am delighted to be joining AUC at a pivotal time for the university and for higher education in Egypt and the Arab world,” Anderson said. “Thanks to its history of distinguished and far-sighted leadership, AUC is uniquely positioned to play a vital role in the development of higher education for the twenty-first century, not only in the region but globally. I am privileged be a part of this venture."
