History Makers

Edward F. Nickoley

Led AUB through WWI

Category: University Founders and Leaders
Education: University of Illinois, BA; University of Illinois, MA; University of Illinois, PhD

After earning his BA, MA and PhD at University of Illinois, Nickoley was invited to AUB in 1900 to organize the School of Commerce where he served as a professor in business related fields, including economics and commerce, until his death in 1937. He was dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and director of the School of Commerce from 1924-37. Serving as acting president from 1920-23, Nickoley bridged the gap between two iconic AUB presidents, Dr. Howard Bliss and Dr. Bayard Dodge, and he met the challenges of life following World War I and a devastating famine with successful fundraising campaigns that ensured the College’s solvency. A skilled and visionary administrator, Nickoley laid the foundations for a modern university through a reorganization that established departmental faculties administered by deans. He bolstered faculty morale with merit-based faculty appointments and salaries, he helped reduce discrimination between Anglo-Saxon and non-Anglo-Saxon teachers by granting Syrian teachers voting power in the General Faculty, and he developed athletics at AUB. Nickoley was acting principle to the International College from 1936-37.

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Bayard Dodge

Leader, Philanthropist

Category: University Founders and Leaders

Bayard Dodge (1883-1972); service to AUB: 1913 to 1948; AUB president (1923-48). A scion of the William Earl Dodge family, Syrian Protestant College’s foundational benefactors, Bayard Dodge earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, his master’s from Columbia, and his doctorate of divinity from Union Theological Seminary. With great skill and dedication, he guided AUB through two world wars, the end of Ottoman Rule, the French Mandate, Lebanon’s independence, and the emergence of Arab Nationalist movements. Dodge was a descendent of founding board treasurer William E. Dodge, Sr.; long serving Board president (now called chair) David Stuart Dodge; and Cleveland H. Dodge, whose eponymously named foundation continues to provide strong support to the University. Dodge’s marriage to Mary Williams Bliss, the daughter of president Howard Bliss and granddaughter of SPC/AUB founder Daniel Bliss, linked the University’s two founding families. After retirement to Princeton, New Jersey, Dodge continued his life’s work strengthening ties between the West and the Middle East.

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Anissa Rawdah Najjar

Journalist, Women's Rights Leader

Category: Activists and Public Servants
Education: AUB, BA Sociology 1936

Anissa Rawdah Najjar was a pioneering women’s rights and human rights activist. She was one of the Arab world’s first female journalists, writing for Al Ahliyah’ newsletter in 1931. Najjar founded the Village Welfare Society, promoting rural women’s professional development and served as its president from 1963-1987. She also established a number of clinics and schools and sought to set up a rural institute that educates women. In 1963, she was appointed editor-in-chief of ‘Al 3urwa Al Wuthqa’ magazine, which she guided until becoming secretary of an orphanage and the Lebanese Council for Women. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including a Commander Medal from Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on her 100th birthday and a commemorative stamp issued by Lebanon’s Ministry of Communications. In 1997 she recieved an honorary trophy from the Lebanese Army and was honored as Lady of the Year in 2000.

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Ali Ghandour

Business Leader, Trustee

Category: Leaders in Business
Year At AUB: 1979

Ali Ghandour, AUB trustee 1979-2008, Appointed trustee emeritus in 2008. A former AUB student, Ghandour earned a BS in aeronautics engineering from New York University in 1954 before returning to Lebanon to head aviation safety at the Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority. He later worked for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in Kuwait, before moving to Jordan to help establish that country’s national airlines. The former CEO of Royal Jordanian Airlines, Ghandour is a board member of Jet Airways, India, and a former board member of the Queen Noor Al-Hussein Foundation, the Royal Endowment for Culture and Education, and the Royal Society of Fine Arts. He is a recipient of the 2014 WAAAUB Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award. Ghandour is the father of AUB trustee and world renowned entrepreneur Fadi Ghandour.

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Aftim Acra

Public Health Expert

Category: Great Scholars and Teachers
Year At AUB: 1957
Service to AUB: 1955-2006 as professor of environmental sciences
Education: AUB, PhC 1946; University of North Carolina, MPH

Aftim Acra’s career at AUB spanned more than fifty years. After earning his undergraduate degree with distinction in the pharmaceutical sciences, Acra worked at AUB as a technician, research assistant, and biochemist, and studied at the Faculty of Medicine before leaving for the University of North Carolina in 1957 to earn a master's degree in public health. He then rejoined AUB as an assistant professor of sanitary chemistry, and became a full professor in 1984. From 1966-89, he served as chair of the Department of Environmental Health at FHS. Though he was instrumental in developing strategies for waste management, water disinfection, and radiation safety, Acra will be remembered for his internationally renowned collection of 120-140 million year old Lebanese amber. In 1978, in recognition of his contribution to the field of paleobiology, the British Museum of Natural History named a rare, extinct insect embedded in amber, parasabatinca Aftim Acra.

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Reem Acra

Fashion Designer

Category: Visionary Architects and Designers
Year At AUB: 1982
Education: AUB, BBA 1982

Reem Acra is one of the premier fashion designers for bridal gowns and other clothing based in New York City. Acra was born at AUBMC, where her parents both worked. Her mother, Nadia, worked in the family medicine department, and her father, Aftim Acra, was a prominent and distinguished academic, professor, and public health expert. Ever since the first formal showing of her designs AUB in the early 1980s, Acra has dedicated her life to fashion. Headquartered in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, her line of clothes is available in upscale boutiques all over the world. Her groundbreaking designs incorporate an imaginative use of embroidery, beadwork, and needlework, creating what has become the distinctive Reem Acra look. Her wedding gowns were being worn by a number of celebrities, including Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde 2 and by Star Jones Reynolds of the popular US morning show, The View, for her New York City nuptials. Her evening creations, as well, have graced the glamorous likes of Halle Berry, Angelina Jolie, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

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Samuel B. Kirkwood

1907-1994

AUB President and Public Health Expert

Category: Great Scholars and Teachers
Year At AUB: 1962
Service to AUB: 1962-1976 as dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences and president

Samuel Kirkwood came to AUB as dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences in 1962, having previously served as commissioner of the Department of Public Health in Massachusetts. He was appointed president of the University in 1965. They were not easy years. Kirkwood was a steadfast, soft-spoken person who had the challenge of moderating between a politicized student body, angry over tuition raises, and aware of changes developing all over the world. The students established a Free University to contrast with what AUB was offering at the time, and there was some tragic violence on campus. The year 1965-66 marked the Centennial Year and Kirkwood worked hard, visiting Middle East countries, meeting with royalty, heads of state and government officials. He managed to keep AUB open during adverse times. AUB built Nicely Hall and a new hospital while Kirkwood was president. He retired from AUB in 1976, moving on to be senior administrator of the US Agency for International Development in Iran. He earned degrees from Macalester College and Harvard University.

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Frederic P. Herter

AUB President and Surgeon

Category: Great Scholars and Teachers
Year At AUB: 1977
Service to AUB: 1977-1987 and 1993-1996 as trustee; 1985-1987 as board chair; 1987-1993 as president; 1996-present as trustee emeritus
Education: Harvard University, BS 1941, MD 1944

Frederic P. Herter was working at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons when he was invited by AUB Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Joseph McDonald (1955-66) to be his replacement for a sabbatical year. Herter was prevented from going when US marines landed in Lebanon to monitor conflict there in 1958. However, the following year he was able to come to campus at the behest of Calvin Plimpton (AUB president 1984-87) who asked him to present at the Ninth MEMA [Middle East Medical Assembly]. Herter was impressed by the quality of education and health care at AUBMC, fascinated by the resourceful character of the Lebanese people, and intrigued by the region. Forced to retire from surgery at age 65, his talents were soon tapped for the highest levels of AUB administration. Because of another US State Department ban on travel, Herter was frustrated not to be able to serve his term as AUB president in Beirut. He presided over the University from the New York office during Lebanon’s most challenging civil war years, which included the bombing of College Hall. Traveling extensively throughout the Middle East and North America to fundraise and build alumni support, President Herter not only kept the University running, but he oversaw the reconstruction of AUB’s most iconic building, making sure that College Hall retained its distinctive look with a clock tower and arches.

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Stephen Bechtel

Engineering and Construction Executive

Category: Innovative Engineers and Scientists
Year At AUB: 2016
Education: Purdue University; Standford University

Stephen D. Bechtel Jr. is an engineering and construction executive and former chairman of the Bechtel Group, which his grandfather, Warren Bechtel, founded in 1898. Bechtel began working at the company in 1948, taking over the reins from his father, Stephen Bechtel Sr., in 1960. During his long and successful career, he chaired or directed many organizations and companies involved in construction, research and education, including: The Business Council, The Conference Board, The National Academy of Engineering, The California Council for Science and Technology Task Force to Improve K-12 Science and Math Education, The Hoover Institution Task Force on Energy, and MIT Energy Initiative External Advisory Board. Bechtel was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1975. He is the recipient of several honorary degrees. In 1954, Bechtel's father made a generous donation to AUB, funding the construction of the Bechtel Engineering Building. Bechtel has continued the family tradition of philanthropy with his own donations to AUB as well. The Bechtel family has long supported AUB and its mission of education.

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Mary Robinson

First Dean of Women at AUB

Category: University Founders and Leaders
Year At AUB: 1959
Service to AUB: 1960-69 as dean of women
Education: Duke University, BA; Columbia University, MA

Mary Robinson worked at AUB from 1960-69 as the first dean of women, a position formerly held at the rank of adviser. In the near decade that she spent at AUB, the female student population increased from 400 to 1,000. Robinson insisted on egalitarian standards for the students, resisting pressures from conservative interests. A staunch believer in the value of volunteerism, she has been a committed volunteer at the United Way and at the YWCA from Beirut, Lebanon to Bellingham, Washington, where she served as a board member. Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Germany, Robinson has traveled extensively throughout her life, and had a long career in higher education administration at various institutions, including her alma mater Duke University, West Virginia University, Oregon State, Eastern Washington University, and Western Washington University. In 1981 she was selected by the US State Department and the American Association of University Women to participate in an exchange with Sierra Leone. At AUB Robinson is remembered for being well-liked by the students, and a deft mediator of student-faculty relations.

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Nicola Khuri

Preminent Physicist

Category: Great Scholars and Teachers
Year At AUB: 1957
Service to AUB: 1957 to present as professor of physics and trustee

Nicola Khuri was on the faculty at AUB, first as an assistant professor of physics in 1957 and in 1961 as an associate professor, and was also a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, for three years. Dr. Khuri came to Rockefeller in 1964 as associate professor and became professor in 1968. He was a consultant to the Brookhaven National Laboratory for many years and has been a visiting scientist at CERN. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society. He received his MA and PhD from Princeton University in 1955 and 1957, respectively. He is renowned throughout the AUB community as a brilliant physicist and champion of the University.

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Morris Ketchum Jesup

1830-1908

SPC Co-Founder, Banker, and Philanthropist

Category: University Founders and Leaders
Year At AUB: 1884
Service to AUB: 1884-1908 as trustee

Morris Ketchum Jesup was a New York City banker and philanthropist, and a friend of founding Syrian Protestant College board member William E. Dodge Jr. Jesup served as SPC trustee from 1884 to 1892 and board chair from 1893 to 1908. He also built Post Hall. He brought his considerable influence to bear with President Theodore Roosevelt to allow places like SPC to buy property. Jesup founded the United States Christian Commission to support wounded soldiers during the Civil War, and he was the first president of the YMCA. He gave funds to help struggling immigrants from Europe and Russia train for new jobs, and he helped to better social conditions for the poor of New York City. His scientific concerns led to his support of the Tuskegee Institute, and polar exploration. Other philanthropic interests included the Peabody Educational Board, the Yale Divinity School, Union Seminary, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1881 Jessup was appointed president of American Museum of Natural History.

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Wadad Cortas

Principal of al-Ahliah Girls College

Category: University Founders and Leaders
Year At AUB: 1930
Education: AUB, BA 1930

Wadad Makdisi Cortas was the dynamic principal of al-Ahliah Girls College which she led for 40 years starting in 1935. Cortas was a strong advocate of women's rights. She was, first and foremost, and Arab nationalist who sought to protect and liberate Arab culture and values for Western colonialism. He father, a professor of Arabic at SPC, sent her to the National School for Girls. She insisted that Arabic remain the primary language at the school when she took over and pushed back against the growing chorus of Francophones. She openly accused Lebanese politicians of sectarianism and champion Palestinian nationalism.

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Boutros Bustani

1819-1883

Father of the Arabic Renaissance

Category: Great Scholars and Teachers
Year At AUB: 1875

Boutros Bustani was a brilliant student of languages who worked with the early protestant missionaries as a teacher of Arabic, and collaborated with Van Dyck on the translation of the Bible into Arabic. Although he was born a Maronite, he became a Protestant after working with the missionaries. His passion for the Arabic language and literature, and his strong belief in secularism inspired him to found The National School in 1863, which sought to encourage Syrian nationalism as well as to build new interest and veneration for the Arabic language. Bustani’s dedication to his ideals has given him the name of “Father of the Arabic Renaissance."

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Huda Zurayk

Public Health Champion

Category: Pioneers in Health
Year At AUB: 2016
Education: AUB, BA Statistics 1965; Harvard University, MS; John Hopkins University,PhD 1974

Dr. Huda Zurayk, a just-retired professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at AUB and an internationally recognized scholar on women’s health issues, joined the Faculty of Health Sciences at AUB in 1974. She became professor and chair of the department in 1985. In 1987, Zurayk joined the Population Council Regional Office in Cairo as senior associate, where she founded the regional Reproductive Health Working Group research network which remains active to date. She returned to AUB in 1998 and served as dean of FHS until 2008. She has published widely on women’s reproductive health issues, and on other health issues including public health education and the impact of war on the health of the family in Lebanon. She has been invited to lecture in prestigious public health schools around the world. Outside of academia, she has managed health information-related projects at ministries in Qatar, Bahrain, and Lebanon, and consulted for various foundations and research institutions. She is a member of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population and the Lancet Palestinian Health Alliance. She serves on the Board of Trustees of various teaching and research institutions. She earned her PhD from the Johns Hopkins University in 1974 in biostatistics.

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Cornelius Van Alen Van Dyck

1818-1895

SPC Founder, Arabic Scholar

Category: University Founders and Leaders
Year At AUB: 1895
Service to AUB: 1866-1895 as SPC co-founder and administrator

Coronelius Van Alen Van Dyck earned an MD from the Jefferson Medical College at the age of twenty, and left directly to serve as a missionary in Beirut. He founded The Abeih Academy, which furnished the first high school diplomas in Syria. Having learned Arabic, he collaborated with friend and scholar Boutros Bustani on translating the Bible as well as other important scientific and medical books. He wrote more than twenty books in Arabic. Van Dyck helped to found SPC taking a fundamental role, not only in establishing the medical school, but directing its observatory and meteorological station as well as editing the mission press. He resigned, along with his son, William Van Dyck, over the Darwin Affair.

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Izzat Tannous

1896-1969

Politician, Doctor

Category: Activists and Public Servants

Izzat Tannous was born in Nablus and served the region as a politician and medical doctor. Dr. Tannous represented the Palestine Arab Higher Committee at the United Nations General Assembly during the British Mandate and was politically pro-majlesiyoun. He led the Arab Office in London during the Great Revolt of 1936 and worked to prevent partition by negotiating with the British. Dr. Tannous headed the Arab Higher Committee delegation to the UN in the 1950s.

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Kamal Salibi

Historian

Category: Great Scholars and Teachers
Year At AUB: 1950
Education: AUB, BA History 1949; University of London, PhD 1953

Kamal Salibi was a seminal historian of Lebanon and the Near East, and former AUB professor. He was appointed professor emeritus at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1999 and held visiting appointments at SOAS, Manchester University, Oxford University and Smith College. Salibi authored over a dozen books and several articles exploring Lebanese identity, modern-history of the Levant and sectarian politics within Lebanon. In 1994, Salibi co-founded the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies in Amman, Jordan, and subsequently became director of the institute in 1997 until his retirement in 2004.

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