[LCM Articles] Waterbury to Step Down as President of AUB

Fri Mar 16 20:13:17 EDT 2007

 Important News from AUB Campus 

Waterbury to Step Down as President of the 
American University of Beirut 

For Immediate Release 

NEW YORK,  NY,  March 16, 2007: The Board of Trustees of the American
University of Beirut has announced that John Waterbury will step down as
president of the University at the end of the 2007-2008 academic year. Dr.
Waterbury became AUB's fourteenth president in January 1998 and was the
first president to reside in Beirut since the end of the Lebanese civil war.
During his tenure at AUB, Dr. Waterbury raised the academic standards of the
University to the highest international levels. 

 "The Board of Trustees regretfully accepts John's decision, and thanks him
for ten years of outstanding leadership during an extraordinary period in
the history of the University.  The Board is putting in place a search
committee to begin the process of recruiting a new university president and
will keep the AUB community informed," stated Dr. Thomas Q. Morris, chairman
of the AUB Board of Trustees. 

Dr. Waterbury's tenure at AUB has been defined by the development of the
first master plan for the campus, a strategic academic review of AUB's
strengths and potential, and the Campaign for Excellence, a five year
campaign that will provide long-lasting support in every area of academic
and campus life to ensure that AUB continues set the highest standards for
education in the Middle East. The campus master plan, completed in 2002, has
set a path for new and renovated facilities and an enhanced physical
environment that will support the University's academic mission and student
life in the decades ahead. 

Under Dr. Waterbury's guidance, AUB's two year academic review culminated in
a revised liberal arts curriculum based on distribution requirements,
enhanced electives, and the availability of minors, augmenting the academic
experience and reinstituting programs that had been interrupted during the
Lebanese civil war. In 2004, the University  was the first academic
institution in Lebanon to be granted accreditation by the Middle States
Commission on Higher Education.   In 2006, the University announced the
launching of seven PhD programs. The Waterbury presidency has also witnessed
the development of several academic and medical research institutes at AUB,
including the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Center for
American Studies and Research (CASAR) founded in 2003; the Abu-Haidar
Neuroscience Institute, founded in 2004; the Naef  K. Basile Cancer
Institute, founded in 2005; and the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy
and International Affairs, founded in 2006. 

The Campaign for Excellence has succeeded in surpassing its goal of $140
million in 2006-07, during the 140th anniversary of the University. The
campaign will provide the funds needed to sustain AUB's role in the region
as an institutional leader committed to excellence in teaching and research.

 "My wife Sarah and I are very attached to Lebanon and to the American
University of Beirut . We look forward to remaining in Lebanon . I am eager
to continue my academic research and writing and my affiliation with the
Political Science and Public Administration Department at AUB," added Dr.
Waterbury. 

Before joining AUB, Waterbury was, for nearly twenty years, professor of
politics and international affairs at Princeton University 's Woodrow Wilson
School of Public and International Affairs. He specialized in the political
economy of the developing countries with a special focus on the Middle East.
He was director of Princeton's Center of International Studies and editor of
the academic journal, World Politics, from 1992 to 1998. 

Dr. Waterbury has published widely on the politics of the Middle East, the
political economy of public enterprise, and on the development of
international river basins. His latest book, 'The Nile Basin: National
Determinants of Collective Action,' was published by Yale University Press
in 2002. He earned his PhD in public law and government at Columbia
University in 1968. 

### 

Contact: 

Ibrahim F. Khoury, Director of Information and Public Relations ( Lebanon ):

Tel.: 011 961 1 35 32 28;
<http://by131fd.bay131.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?mailto=1&msg=D28273C6
-3AEA-41B2-85E8-92D2BBE45816&start=0&len=20330&src=&type=x&to=ifkhoury at aub.e
du.lb&cc=&bcc=&subject=&body=&curmbox=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&a
=2bf3ded5c31eaa1943990042da594a8e6f955e7c468fe6901af2ae3e5a71f5d0>
ifkhoury at aub.edu.lb 

Ada H. Porter, Director of Communications (North America): 

Tel.: 212-583 7618;
<http://by131fd.bay131.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?mailto=1&msg=D28273C6
-3AEA-41B2-85E8-92D2BBE45816&start=0&len=20330&src=&type=x&to=porter at aub.edu
&cc=&bcc=&subject=&body=&curmbox=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&a=2bf3
ded5c31eaa1943990042da594a8e6f955e7c468fe6901af2ae3e5a71f5d0> porter at aub.edu

American University of Beirut 

New York Office 
3 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
8th Floor
NYC, NY 10017-2303 
United States of America 

Beirut Office 
P.O.Box 11-0236 
Riad El-Solh / Beirut 1107 2020 
Lebanon 

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