page_title: American University of Beirut
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: American University of Beirut / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: Buildings of American University, Beirut Abstract/medium: G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection Physical description: 1 negative&#160;:
context_page_description: The American University of Beirut is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB was ranked the top university in the Arab region in the 2018 QS World University Rankings.
  AUB is governed by a private, autonomous Board of Trustees and offers programs leading to bachelor's, master's, MD and PhD degrees.
  AUB has an operating budget of $423 million with an endowment of approximately $768 million. The campus is composed of 64 buildings, including the American University of Beirut Medical Center, four libraries, three museums and seven dormitories. Almost one-fifth of AUB's students attended secondary school or university outside Lebanon before coming to AUB. AUB graduates reside in more than 120 countries worldwide. The language of instruction is English. Degrees awarded at the university are officially registered with the New York Board of Regents.
  On May 5, 2020, AUB's President Fadlo Khuri announced a projected 60% decline in AUB's revenue in the next academic year and added that furloughs, layoffs, and the elimination of departments and programs will be necessary for financial survival.
context_section_description: On January 23, 1862, W. M. Thomson proposed to a meeting of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions that a college of higher learning, that would include medical training, should be established in Beirut with Dr. Daniel Bliss as its president. On April 24, 1863, while Bliss was raising money for the new college in the United States and England, the State of New York granted a charter for the Syrian Protestant College. The college, which was renamed the American University of Beirut in 1920, opened with a class of 16 students on December 3, 1866. Bliss served as its first president, from 1866 until 1902. In the beginning Arabic was used as the language of instruction because it was the common language of the ethnic groups of the region, and prospective students needed to be fluent in Ottoman Turkish or in French as well as in English. In 1887 the language of instruction became English.
  AUB alumni have had a broad and significant impact on the region and the world for many years. For example, 19 AUB alumni were delegates to the signing of the United Nations Charter in 1945—more than any other university in the world. AUB graduates continue to serve in leadership positions as presidents of their countries, prime ministers, members of parliament, ambassadors, governors of central banks, presidents and deans of colleges and universities, academics, businesspeople, scientists, engineers, doctors, teachers, and nurses. They work in governments, the private sector, and in nongovernmental organizations.
  During the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) AUB pursued various means to preserve the continuity of studies, including enrollment agreements with universities in the United States.  On January 18, 1984, AUB President Malcolm H. Kerr was murdered outside his office by members of Islamic Jihad, which preceded the Hezbollah. In 1982 Acting President David S. Dodge was kidnapped on campus by pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim extremists. In 1984 and 1985 a number of university staff were kidnapped, including electrical engineering professor Frank Regier, professor J. Leigh Douglas, professor Philip Padfield, professor Joseph Cicippio, dean of the faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences Thomas Sutherland (held captive from 1985 to 1991), director David Jacobsen, and librarian Peter Kilburn (killed by his captors). In all, 30 university-connected people were kidnapped during the war.
  In November 1991, a bomb believed to have been set off by pro-Iranian Muslim fundamentalists demolished the main building of the American University of Beirut, injuring four people, on the 125th anniversary of the school's founding.
  On March 21, 2008, the Board of Trustees selected Peter Dorman to be AUB's 15th president. He succeeded John Waterbury who was president of AUB from 1998 to 2008. Dorman is a scholar in the field of Egyptology and formerly chaired the University of Chicago's Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.
  On March 19, 2015, the Board of Trustees formally approved the nomination of Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, as the next president. He was inaugurated as AUB's 16th president on January 25, 2016.
  After initially announcing that it would stay open in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and ignoring the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education's request that it shut down, in early March 2020 the university announced that it would close down. AUB later announced the creation of an expert committee. A research portal was also created to help in studying COVID-19 pandemic related issues.
  On June 15, 2020, AUB President Fadlo Khuri announced that AUB would "fire 22-25%" of its staff due to severe financial difficulties.
caption: Buildings of American University, Beirut, between 1898 and 1914
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