birth_date: 1886-06-22 00:00:00
avg_rating: 3.94
name: Philip Khuri Hitti
about: Philip K. Hitti (1886-1978) was a Lebanese historian who was instrumental in establishing the field of Near Eastern Studies in the United States.Category: Great Scholars and TeachersYear At AUB: 1908Education: AUB, BA 1908; Columbia University, PhDPhilip Hitti was born in the village of Shemlan in 1886. He graduated from the American University of Beirut with first honors in 1908, teaching there for several years as the University’s first Lebanese professor. He departed for the US, where he studied at Columbia, becoming the first Lebanese, and the first native-born Arab speaker, to receive a PhD in the US in 1915. In 1926 he moved to Princeton, founding the first program of Middle Eastern Studies in the US, which he chaired until his retire Philip K. Hitti (1886-1978) was a Lebanese historian who was instrumental in establishing the field of Near Eastern Studies in the United States.Category: Great Scholars and TeachersYear At AUB: 1908Education: AUB, BA 1908; Columbia University, PhDPhilip Hitti was born in the village of Shemlan in 1886. He graduated from the American University of Beirut with first honors in 1908, teaching there for several years as the University’s first Lebanese professor. He departed for the US, where he studied at Columbia, becoming the first Lebanese, and the first native-born Arab speaker, to receive a PhD in the US in 1915. In 1926 he moved to Princeton, founding the first program of Middle Eastern Studies in the US, which he chaired until his retirement in 1954. Under Hitti’s leadership Princeton became the premier center for Islamic studies in the West and was one of the pioneers of the concept of area studies. He was also a prolific writer, and his seminal book, History of the Arabs, published in 1937, is in its 11th edition. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of AUB, the recipient of innumerable awards from the governments of the Arab countries, and received numerous heads of State in his home including the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon. ...more
death_date: 1978-12-24 00:00:00