website predecessor title term_start article_title term_end name alma_mater
-lsb- http://www.aucegypt.edu/about/president/pages/default.aspx office of the president -rsb- david c. arnold president of the american university in cairo 2011 lisa anderson
 present lisa anderson sarah m.a. -rrb- columbia university -lrb- ph.d -rrb- lawrence college -lrb- b.a. -rrb- tufts university -lrb-
lisa anderson

lisa anderson is an american political scientist and the current president of the american university in cairo -lrb- auc -rrb- .
a specialist on middle eastern and north african politics , anderson served as the provost of auc from 2008 to 2010 .
prior to joining auc , anderson served as the james t. shotwell professor of international relations at columbia university , the dean of columbia 's school of international and public affairs , the chair of the political science department and the director of the middle east institute -rsb- .
previously , she was an assistant professor of government and social studies at harvard university .
anderson is the former president of the middle east studies association -lrb- mesa -rrb- and former chair of the board of the social science research council .
anderson is also a former member of the council of the american political science association and served on the board of the carnegie council on ethics in international affairs .
she is member emerita of the board of human rights watch , where she served as co-chair of human rights watch/middle east , co-chair of the international advisory board of the alexander von humboldt foundation and member of the international advisory council of the world congress for middle east studies .
she is also a member of the council on foreign relations .
anderson holds a bachelor of arts from sarah lawrence college and a master of arts in law and diplomacy from the fletcher school at tufts university .
she earned her ph.d in political science from columbia university in 1981 , where she also received a certificate from the middle east institute .
her academic research focuses on state formation , regime change , and economic and political development in the middle east .
in 2002 , anderson received an honorary doctor of laws from monmouth university .
in fall 2013 , she visited the american academy in berlin as a richard c. holbrooke distinguished visitor .
