Timeline

Charles Watson completes a report outlining the vision for AUC

AUC was officially incorporated in Washington, DC  

The first 142 students begin classes equivalent to the final two years of high school

Student Union formed

First commencement

New York State Board of Regents recognizes AUC degrees as equivalent to junior college degrees

The Division of Extension (forerunner to the School of Continuing Education) established

First campus newspaper, AUC Review, issued

Old Boys Club created for alumni

AUC offers four years of secondary school and four of college

First university-level bachelor’s degrees awarded to three students

AUC welcomes its first female student Eva Habib el-Masri

Hill family starts AUC’s first endowment fund with $450,000

Old Boys Club develops into Alumni Association

Gillespie family donates $65,000 to build Oriental Hall

Om Kalthum performs in Ewart Hall

Campus Caravan replaces AUC Review

King Abdullah of Jordan visits AUC 

AUC hosts special concerts in Ewart Hall for allied soldiers in Egypt

AUC students petition the Ministry of War to allow an instructor to teach them military formations, which soon replaced acrobatics and team sports

Watson decorated by King Farouk: High Decoration of the Order of Ismail — the first time this honor had been conferred on an American

First graduate degree awarded

Last preparatory class graduates, making AUC strictly a university-level institution

Helen Keller visits AUC

Hill House formally dedicated as the first student dormitory on campus

Social Research Center created

Late Egyptian presidents Gamal Abdul Nasser and Mohammed Naguib attend AUC’s Arabic Language Day Convocation

English Language Institute opens

The School of Oriental Studies becomes the Center for Arabic Studies

AUC obtains Creswell Collection

Hill House rededicated as a library

AUC Press established

AUC’s name changes from “at” Cairo to “in” Cairo

Buildings purchased from the Greek community

Falaki building was built for use as a student dormitory

Science Building construction completed

Center for Arabic Study Abroad opens

Government sequesters AUC until 1975

AUC Press obtains exclusive English-language rights to the works of Naguib Mahfouz

Ministry of Higher Education recognizes all but three AUC degrees as equivalent to those offered by Egyptian universities

Sports program wins representation in the National Universities Sports Union

Egyptian government relinquishes control of the AUC

Protocol issued between AUC’s Board of Trustees and the Egyptian government

AUC Press publishes the first Naguib Mahfouz novel in English

Desert Development Center approved

New Greek Campus library completed

AUC receives the largest single donation ($5,500,000) from Yousef Jameel ’68

Middle States Commission on Higher Education grants AUC full accreditation

Opening of Egypt’s first university bookstore

The first history of AUC is documented in The American University in Cairo, 1919 -1987, written by Lawrence R. Murphy, a former AUC faculty member

Mahfouz wins Nobel Prize. AUC Press was already his English-language publisher (with nine of his novels in print) and worldwide agent

Last undergraduate commencement (February) in Ewart Hall

Middle States Commission on Higher Education reaffirms AUC’s accreditation until 2008

Abdul Latif Jameel Building for Middle East Management Studies inaugurated

Core Curriculum introduced

Model United Nations starts –– first in the Middle East

AUC simulates Earth Day and Environmental Action

Model Arab League starts

AUC opens Zamalek building

Rare books library inaugurated

Noam Chomsky speaks at AUC

University Senate established

AUC is one of only three universities in the Middle East to receive a Sasakawa Peace Foundation grant

AUC celebrates 75th anniversary

New mission statement

Grand Mufti Sheikh Muhammed Tantawi and Pope Shenouda III speak at AUC

AUC Professor Kent Weeks rediscovers KV5 in Valley of the Kings

AUC Press establishes Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature

AUC purchases land in New Cairo

The US First Lady Hillary Clinton speaks in Ewart Hall

AUC becomes the first University outside US to receive accreditation from Computer Science Accreditation Board

Queen Rania Al Abdullah ’91 visits AUC. Distinguished guests in the first years of the century included Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, Condoleezza Rice, and Nobel laureates Ahmed Zewail and Mohamed ElBaradei

New Cairo Campus design was completed and the cornerstone was laid by Egypt’s First Lady Suzanne Mubarak ’77, ’82

Egyptian Chair in Coptic Heritage established –– the only such program in Egypt

AUC establishes Leadership for Education and Development program

AUC signs construction contract for New Cairo Campus

Volunteers in Action student club holds first wedding for orphan brides on campus (continues for 13 years)

AUC Press publishes its 1,000th book

First day of class on the New Cairo Campus

Egypt’s First Lady Suzanne Mubarak ’77, ’82 inaugurates the New Cairo Campus

AUC celebrates 90th anniversary

PhD program begins

AUC Press celebrates 50 years

First visually impaired student graduates from AUC

AUC launches three schools: School of Business, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, and Graduate School of Education

Principals’ Academy first in the region

AUC becomes the first University in Egypt to be accredited by the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education

AUC launches The Cairo Review of Global Affairs

New freedom of expression policy

Center for Translation Studies launched

Management Center accredited by Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training

Undergraduate chemistry program first in the region to be internationally accredited

Yousef Jameel GAPP Public Leadership Fellowship program was established to support 300 global affairs and public policy fellows

Omar Mohsen scholarship was established in memory of an AUC student who died in Port Said attacks

First TEDxAUC

Agreement with Student Union ends campus closure

Graduation of first-class to study entirely on the New Cairo campus

AUC releases region’s first carbon footprint

Special Olympics Day on campus for the first time

AUC hosts Terry Fox Run for the first time to raise funds for the cancer hospital

Academy of Liberal Arts and Academic Advising Center launched

Freshman program revamped

AUC establishes career centers in national universities

Eduniversal ranks master’s programs top in Africa

Model United Nations celebrates 25th anniversary

Greek Campus home to Egypt’s first downtown technology park

D-Kimia, Egypt’s first University spinoff, markets affordable hepatitis C tests

Partnership between AUC and MIT Enterprise Forum

Faculty housing first in Egypt to embed green design, green roof

Research Institute for a Sustainable Environment replaces Desert Development Center

Graduation of first nanotechnology master's students

First PhD student graduates

Triple-crown accreditation for School of Business –– earned by 1% of business schools worldwide

AUC Venture Lab launched as Egypt’s first University incubator, ranked by UBI Global among the top in the region

AUC pioneers free online courses in Arabic (MOOCs) with Edraak

AUC ranked top green campus in Africa, top third worldwide in GreenMetric Ranking (continues for two consecutive years)

First AUC Community Day celebrates campus unity, unveils eagle mascot

AUC portal lights up in blue for World Autism Day

Architecture program first in the region to receive international accreditation

AUC’s strategic plan completed

AUC faculty join Egypt’s Presidential Specialized Council for Education and Scientific Research

AUC tops QS World University Rankings in Egypt

The School of Continuing Education celebrates 90 years

AUC only college outside North America in The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges (continues for four years)

AUC partners with the Ministry of Justice to train judges, and enhance legal education

AUC partners with Magdi Yacoub Foundation on cardiac research

AUC launches the first co-curricular transcript in the region

The highest number of applicants in AUC’s history; selectivity rate for incoming students among the top 100 universities in the United States; yield higher than Harvard’s

AUC third outside US to receive NASPAA accreditation for public policy, and public administration master’s CASA returns to AUC

AUC featured in UN’s Greening Universities Toolkit as a global exemplar of sustainability

QS Rankings place AUC among the top universities worldwide

Neighborhood Initiative launched

Shift to need-based financial aid

First graphic design graduates

AUC first University outside of US to host the Digital Pedagogy Lab Institute in Cairo

Egypt hosts first national Global Hybrid Electric Challenge

AUC hosts the first community psychology conference in the Middle East and North Africa

First AUC research day

For the third year in a row, QS ranks AUC top University in Egypt and fifth in the Arab region

Four AUC students and one alumna compete in Rio 2016 Olympics

AUC’s Rare Books and Special Collections Library receives donations of more than 5,000 books in several languages from the private library of the late Egyptian journalist Mostafa Amin

AUC athletes win 20 gold medals, and break the national record at an international tournament in Beirut

The first batch of Al Ghurair STEM Scholars join AUC

First graduate of educational leadership master’s

AUC first University in the region to offer a blended degree, pairing with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Al Ghurair Foundation for Education

AUC Press receives international recognition for three of its titles at the PROSE Awards

AUC partners with Udacity on blended learning

AUC first in the region to host LafargeHolcim Sustainable Architecture Competition

2016 QS World University Rankings place AUC as the 365th best university globally

AUC was named by the Middle East Strategy Task Force as one of few American universities in the Middle East that are potential “hubs of excellence”  
- AUC was named among 15 breathtaking campuses around the world

HUSSLab launched

First AUC research week

AUC first University in the Arab region to house its own FabLab

Eduniversal ranks 10 AUC graduate programs among the top in Africa

AUC takes initiative to transfer nearly 5,000 Islamic, Coptic, Pharaonic, Greek and Roman antiquities to the protection of the Egyptian government. AUC had been in legal possession of these antiquities since the 1960s, ensuring their preservation

AUC's Master of Public Administration and Master of Public Policy first worldwide to receive triple crown accreditation in the field of public affairs education

AUC was selected to host NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Competition for the first time in the MENA region

AUC's School of Business is ranked by Eduniversal as the top in Africa and is the first business school in the Middle East and Africa to join The Global Alliance in Management Education

AUC/Cairo International Model United Nations delegation takes home six of seven awards in the Security Council simulation at Egypt's first World Youth Forum

AUC's Career Center launches USAID-funded University Centers for Career Development program

Middle States Commission on Higher Education reaffirms AUC’s accreditation through the 2026-2027 academic year

Tobacco-Free Community Policy launched

AUC launches Arts, Community Outreach and Campus Animation program

First university cashless program in the region, AUC Coin

AUC’s Department of Accounting is accredited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the United Kingdom

For the ninth year in a row, Cairo International Model United Nations receives Outstanding Delegation awards at the National Model United Nations conference in New York

Cairo International Model Arab League sole representative of Egyptian and Middle Eastern Universities at National University Model Arab League in Washington, DC, winning nine awards

CASA celebrates its 50th anniversary

AUC's Master of Arts in television and digital journalism is fully accredited by Egypt's Supreme Council of Universities

UK universities visit AUC to learn about its International Branch Campuses model

First AUC graduate of Al Ghurair STEM Scholars Program

AUC was named on the Forbes list of top US colleges overseas

AUC's actuarial science and biology programs receive first-time accreditation by the Applied and Natural Science Accreditation Commission of ABET

AUC signs agreement with Naguib Sawiris to establish and renovate Tahrir Cultural Center in AUC Tahrir Square

AUC partners with King's College London and Harvard University

AUC's student government only representative from the region at the American Student Government Association's international conference in Washington, DC

Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology launched

AUC appoints the first general counsel and chief compliance officer

Centennial coin designed by students, minted by the Egyptian government

New Cairo campus is 10 years old