Galal Amin Receives State Appreciation Award
In 1947, Ahmed Amin, father of Professor Emeritus Galal Amin, was awarded the inaugural King Fuad Prize for Literature. More than six decades later, Amin followed in his footsteps to receive the prize, now called the State Appreciation Award in Social Sciences. This prestigious award is presented by the Supreme Council of Cultural Affairs to distinguished social scientists.
“I am very happy to win this award,” said Amin, a member of AUC’s Department of Economics for 44 years. “This is certainly the second highest award that can be bestowed on a social scientist, and it is a great honor to receive it.”
Amin received an LLB from the Faculty of Law, Cairo University in 1955, and an MSc and PhD from the London School of Economics in 1961 and 1964, respectively. Prior to joining AUC in 1979, he was a visiting professor of economics at Ain Shams University and the University of California, Los Angeles, and was economic adviser to the Kuwait Fund for Economic Development. Amin has authored many books in Arabic and English on economic, social and political issues in Egypt and the Arab world, including Whatever Happened to the Egyptians (AUC Press, 2000), Whatever Else Happened to the Egyptians (AUC Press, 2004) and Illusion of Progress in the Arab World: The Philosophy of Economics and Globalization (AUC Press, 2006). “The award is a wonderful and well-deserved honor for Galal Amin, a great economist and a public intellectual,” said President Lisa Anderson. “AUC is privileged to have had Amin as one of its distinguished professors for more than 30 years.” Tarek Selim, chair of the economics department, shared similar sentiments. “We are all grateful and proud to be associated with such a profound character who has had a lasting impact on many generations.” In 2010, Amin received the Sultan Bin Al Owais Cultural Foundation Award in recognition of his contributions to economics, politics, community and culture. He is also the recipient of the Award for Economics from the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science; the Order of Merit for the Sciences and Arts from the President of Egypt; and the Egyptian State Prize for Economics. He serves on the board of the Arab Society of Economic Research and is a member of the Egyptian Economic Society, the Egyptian Society for Human Rights and the Arab Society for Human Rights.
