For some students from DePauw University, coming to Egypt was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and with no idea of what to expect coming here, it was the “pleasant surprises” that made the visit worthwhile. 

"I came in with not a lot of expectations," said Meghan Wallace, a senior majoring in global health. "There are a lot of misconceptions around coming here, but I didn’t expect to feel this comfortable and this much at home."

Wallace was among 27 students from DePauw University, who were at AUC for 10 days taking the course, Leading Change: A Design-Thinking Challenge in Cairo, Egypt, and attending lectures about Egyptian culture and history. This is DePauw’s first collaboration with AUC and the first time its students take part in the Faculty-Led Program. 

“I’ve studied abroad in different colleges in Europe and Asia, but this campus definitely stood out to me," said Edward Kim, a senior majoring in political science. “Seeing the photos of the campus online was amazing. I am amazed every day I wake up and go outside. I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance to come to a rich country with a beautiful culture and history again. It was a no-brainer. I didn’t hesitate to apply.” 

The course presents students with an issue in Egyptian society and requires that they come up with a solution. It aims to promote creativity and leadership among the students and expand their awareness of the world around them by introducing them to the multifaceted culture and history of Egypt. 

“Our challenge was related to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030,” said Eduardo Garcia, a junior majoring in global health. “We had to identify solutions and initiatives we saw in Egypt that we could take back to the United States and implement in our own society.” 

“I really enjoyed this new idea of experiential learning, of learning in the classroom and then actually experiencing it outside,” Wallace said.

DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, is a small private liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,972 students. The institution is a top national liberal arts university, ranked number one  in Indiana, where professional success is the outcome for nearly 100% of graduates. 

“One thing that stood out about AUC was how similar it was to studying at my own university,” Kim said. “The class sizes were small, I felt pretty at home and the professors were awesome. They provided so much new information and knowledge that I didn’t even consider before.” 

Giselle Villegas, a senior majoring in computer science and Spanish, added that the class, in addition to the experience as a whole, succeeded in reshaping any prior knowledge and misconceptions about Egypt that stem from misrepresentation in the media.

“I just really enjoyed the fact that the professors provided us with information and were receptive to our questions, even if our questions were tied to preconceived notions we had because of where we came from,” Villegas said. 

Garcia mentioned that John Swanson’s lecture about Islam helped foster a clear understanding of the religion and how it is interconnected with Christianity. 

“It was one of the best lectures I’ve had in a long time,” Wallace said. “The amount of engagement and knowledge that he had to share with us was phenomenal. Every single lecture was phenomenal and really interesting.”

Similarities aside, all the students noted that their favorite part about Egypt has been the one thing that makes it different from the rest of the world: the people. 

“The idea of community is something that I found unique about Cairo,” Villegas said. “Back in the States the concept of individualism is very present, and that’s something I found very different here, whether it was out in the markets or even here at the University. There have been a lot of instances when people help us out, and they won’t leave you behind.” 

Echoing the same sentiment, Garcia said, “I really love the people here. They’re so sweet and genuine and always willing to help with whatever issues you may have. Meeting new people and interacting with the students was great; they’re awesome.” 

“Meeting people was the highlight of my visit,” Kim said. “Walking in the streets, the mosques, the synagogue, the Citadel — just being around people was the best part. Everyone felt welcomed; I had no thought of worry or danger, and I’ve felt safe since I got here.”

And while they all agree that their time in Egypt was life-changing, they said they believe that it is what they’ll take back with them to the United States that will have the greatest impact. 

“When you travel you learn that everyone has so many different problems and solutions, and being able to know that and understand it is such a big thing,” Kim said. “There’s so many things to see, do and experience.”

“I’m taking it all back,” joked Garcia, as he mentioned how much he loved molokhiya and riding camels at the Pyramids. But on a more serious note, he said he was inspired by the country’s “consciousness around sustainability, especially recycling,” something he says is lacking in efforts in the United States.  

As for the others, what they’re taking back with them is not so much a call on others, but an effort to reshape their own lives and decisions. 

“A lot of learning on how to be a better leader comes from making connections with people and talking to them and getting to know them,” Wallace said. “That’s how you make change, and I’d like to implement that in my life.” 

And what stuck with Villegas the most was the sense of community she felt both on campus and in the city. “Being here gave me a refresher of going back to this idea of community,” she said. 

“It’s all about having jackets tell stories,” said Hana Zaher ‘19, graphic design graduate and designer of Daima — a graduation project that turned into to a solid brand to be launched soon in the Egyptian market.

Inspired by the Hermes brand petit Ash, Daima is an eco-friendly brand that creates jackets out of upcycled materials and factory leftovers. Jackets are sewed by underprivileged Egyptian women in different organizations, such as El Zahraa and Sahebat Banati, and those in debt. “We get to collaborate with a different entity to support a different cause, be it young orphan girls or indebted women,” said Zaher.

Each piece of Daima’s products is named after its producer. A percentage of the jacket sales proceeds go to this cause to achieve a sustainable empowerment system for these women and help the environment always become “daima,” or sustainable.

“By purchasing a product in this brand, you are directly contributing to the life of a woman in need of an opportunity, a fresh start and a better chance,” affirmed Zaher.

Since she decided to study graphic design at AUC, Zaher’s dream has always been merging art and design to form her own fashion brand.

“I learned branding, retail, advertising and packaging design at AUC — almost everything that would help me start my own fashion line,” she said.

And her professors concur. “Hana was keen on not missing out an opportunity to learn everything that would serve her brand in the making,” said Nagla Samir, associate professor of practice in the Department of the Arts who supervised Zaher’s graduation project. “She wanted to complete the graphic design program with a complete array of design courses, and she really utilized it perfectly.”

Zaher wants to prove that the production of a prestigious product doesn’t necessarily entail using high-cost materials. Her challenge is to prove that she can still produce a fashionable product using upcycled materials. “I want people to buy my jackets and proudly wear them because they like them, not out of sympathy,” affirmed Zaher.

Zaher considers the women to be her partners in the brand. “I design, and they make my designs come to life,” she said. Besides giving them a percentage of every product purchase, Daima also teaches the women a new skill, helps them work on their sense of fashion and enhances their knowledge of upcycling, which they need in their daily lives.

“Hana spent almost nine months researching, trying and failing until she found sources for the eco-friendly materials she’s using,” explained Samir. “What I love about Hana is that she’s always eager to learn. She took patron-cutting courses and model illustration. She never takes the easy road. She finished the graphic design program with Daima almost launched.”

Zaher’s packaging is also eco-friendly, as she collaborated with an organization that makes recycled material made from paper and agricultural refuse – especially rice straws, Nile water lilies and bananas stalks. “Hana kept researching until she found the perfect package design that also serves the concept of her brand,” added Samir.

Zaher took part in last year’s World Youth Forum, where she showcased her products and presented one of her products to Egypt’s first lady Entissar El-Sisi. “It was a great experience, as I received a lot of motivating feedback about the concept of the brand,” she said.

Zaher is launching her first collection of Daima in January 2020 and the jackets will soon be available in concept stores.

#AUCFutureForward

AUC and the College of Charleston in South Carolina, both liberal arts institutions with a long legacy in education, have recently partnered on a new academic cooperation and student exchange program for both undergraduate and graduate students for a period of five years. 

Students from AUC and the College of Charleston will receive a scholarship to spend a semester or year abroad at the other institution, providing students with a unique international experience and strengthening East-West cultural ties. "Our new partnership with the College of Charleston represents an excellent opportunity for our students to spend a semester at one of the finest liberal arts and sciences institutions in South Carolina, which provides quality education along with authentic student experiences,” said Ahmed Tolba, ’97, ’01, associate provost for strategic enrollment management and associate professor of marketing at AUC. “It is ranked no. 1 among public universities in the United States in terms of the percentage of undergraduate study-abroad students. I look forward to hosting their students at AUC and having our students benefit from a unique experience there."

AUC Trustee Jonathan Wolf (YAB '75), founder and president of Wendover Housing Partners, LLC who was a study-abroad student at AUC, and his wife Nancy were instrumental in making this program a reality. They will provide funds for AUC students to spend a semester or year abroad at the College of Charleston, while Hilton and Catherine Smith, who serve on the College of Charleston’s School of Languages, Cultures and World Affairs advisory board, will fund College of Charleston students to come to AUC.

“To find and do and be of significance, you need to study in Cairo,” said AUC Trustee Wolf to Charleston’s The College Today. “As a Westerner, my first stop out of the U.S. was the ancient world. Cairo opened up what for me later became a career and way of life. It gave me confidence. If you can succeed in another culture with another language, then there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.”

Garrett Davidson (CASA ’04, MA ’06), who studied at AUC’s Center for Arabic Study Abroad and earned his master’s in Arabic studies from AUC and is now an assistant professor of Arabic and Muslim world studies at the College of Charleston, emphasized the importance of this global experience for students.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for both institutions,” Davidson told The College Today. “As a student at AUC, I established professional and personal connections that continue today. It was the most influential experience of my life. I explored all over Egypt. I met people from all walks of life and got to hear their views on everything from politics and religion to economics and food.”

The Wolfs also established the Nancy and Jonathan Wolf Study-Abroad Scholarship at AUC.

My article is a manifestation of an underrated travel experience that is often overlooked and ignored. We tend to take our everyday rides for granted, but this travel piece is about giving this ride the attention it deserves, and more than it anything, it is about giving our beloved Cairo and its people the attention they deserve as well. It is about examining Cairo’s many facades, its contrasts and its people’s paradoxes too! 

I believe many people can strongly relate to this piece, especially those who are confined to a bus for more than three hours a day, and if not, then perhaps this piece may invite them to give their rides the share of attention and query they deserve, both internally and externally. 

— Dina Dabbous
Political Science Graduating Senior

The following article was written by Dina Dabbous as part of the Travel Writing course taught by Richard Hoath, senior instructor II in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition.

This is a trip that I know everything about. This trip has taught me what traveling really is all about. Growing up, I used to think traveling is a term granted to any place that required a plane ticket to get to. A few years later, I learned that traveling is still possible if I take a three or four-hour car ride to another city, and which usually required a beach for it to qualify as a travel experience. But today, just a few days away from finishing my degree and graduating, I realize an unconventional yet unforgettable form of travel that I have been overlooking, and that is traveling within Cairo: a privilege I had since 2016 and that I thought was a curse when it turned out to only be a blessing.

I spent the past three years traveling every day from the 6^th of October City to New Cairo to go to AUC. My first impression as I was told the beloved Ring Road was going to be my everyday route was: I must be cursed! For me to take a 90-minute road (at best) two times a day, four times a week and sometimes more, while still be asked to ace my courses and maintaining the very basic social life of a college student … How could this be humanly possible? But eventually, I realized how much of an eye-opener this trip has been. Not less than any other travel experience, the Ring Road and the bus ride on it, has taught me more than I ever thought it would. I used to think there was no way a bus ride on the Ring Road would give the same effect as a trip in the desert for example, but then today, I realize that even if the context may be different, the experience is just as overwhelming. Bus rides have their own people, their own moments and their own stories, and the Ring Road has its own secrets and wonders too!

During my very early trips, the ride used to be very much people-oriented, I was still experiencing the thrill of a freshman in a cosmopolitan University and that technically spent most of the time on the bus and hence, I felt the responsibility of getting to know the people I take such rides with every day. Honestly, I have encountered some of the most fascinating stories I may have ever heard on this ride. It was like a minimized version of University there. You could notice the group of cool kids, sitting at the back, of course. You could notice the music maniac, the one who always had screaming headphones even if we’re separated by a good number of rows! The love birds were there too, and the depressed couple, a few rows back. The ones I most enjoyed examining were the teachers’ pets, the ones that would go to the extent of waking the professor up from a much-needed nap after a long day, only to tell them how much they enjoyed today’s class, all in the hope of an A-, perhaps? I would overhear the pleading student and the short-tempered professor, and I would smile, as I watched the cars crazily drive around the bus. Yet, the world happening outside of that bus ride was just as overwhelming as the world inside of it.

Every day, I would learn a new part of the Ring Road, a new part of a true, undisguised Cairo. This ride reminds me of a walk in a museum; you only get a glimpse of different eras, different times and different people all in the confine of the very same walls. The Ring Road was nothing less.

One thing I have grown to genuinely appreciate is the meaningful and wholesome conversations one may have on one bus ride. I was lucky enough to have many throughout the early years of college. I remember sitting next to a quiet girl who had a nice smile, and ended up sleeping on my lap at the end of the ride. She told me about her hectic life, her double-faced self, how she wished she would live the low-key life she wants, but how she works as an actress at night and tries to maintain whatever is left of her student life in the morning. And as I would drift into my own thoughts reflecting on such stories, we would drive past the big multinational companies’ headquarters, the globalization square as I may call it, then only a few kilometers after, I’d notice the tip one of the Giza Pyramids, the palm trees, the prestigious villas and gated communities on the road.

I remember being squeezed in between a sleeping girl and on the other side a guy who carried nothing but a guitar. Not a backpack, not a laptop, just a guitar. He was one of the friendliest people I have ever met. He reminded me of how easy and effortless conversing with others should be. He opened up about how he had left his parents’ house the other day and is crashing at a friend of his, just because his parents were not supportive of what he has always wanted to do — music. Speaking of music, I remember that part of the road when I would almost always hear a mahragan playing around, complemented by the noise of the crazy cars and people shouting all over the place! The buildings get darker, and dirtier, the road gets bumpier – literally – and even people’s driving becomes crazier and traffic becomes louder! The only thing one would notice is just how poverty and misery are the rulers of this area. Known as El Mariouteya, this area is among the poorest and most dangerous ones in Cairo.

Yet in the midst of this struggle, I could still see how beautifully Egyptians have tried to express their pain through art; they have created the mahraganat, also known as shaabi music always playing around this area, and they have taken the walls of the bare red brick walls to draw gigantic murals that have taken me literally years to notice. The mural of a mother and her daughter, that of a golden eagle, and many others that attempt to add a glimpse of beauty to all the darkness that Cairo is in this area.

More on music, I remember meeting my music soul-mate on that bus ride. We shared nothing but a few words and an earphone, only to build one of the deepest connections I’ve ever had with anyone. It’s amazing how you could meet someone with your exact taste in music only a few chairs away from you! But right after Mariouteya, and right after my musical experience there and on the bus, I could eventually notice greenery in the middle of the basic buildings; just when you think you can’t be more surprised at the contrasts you could encounter in Cairo, agricultural lands start to appear! How ironic is it to see a field of berseem and a donkey in the midst of all this modernity? Turns out there’s a little Cairene countryside right in the heart of the city!

On my road to exploring Cairo and the Cairenes, I remember meeting my sorrow-mate on that bus too: a girl I knew nothing about until she jumped that chair in between and asked me if I was okay because I was crying right after my break-up. She’s my best friend until this day. But the saddest fact was growing up, and seeing people getting more and more distant, more distracted with their phones, and then their Airpods and then their Netflix series. It has only made me feel sorry for the freshmen missing out on making genuine friends brought together by the common complaint of the catastrophe, that is the Ring Road. But the silver lining of this gradually growing distance was that it gave me the opportunity to look outside of the window more than just being carried away with the inside, and only throughout my senior year that I have started to notice the wonders of the Ring Road, as ironic as it may sound. My favorite part of the road was when the king, that is the Nile, appears and puts all the noise, all the ugliness at rest. the Nile represents a rupture, a binary fission, one that cannot go unnoticed.

Right at the Nile banks, your eyes will not be able to ignore this meeting of rural vs. urban. On one side, you can see the agricultural lands, the simple Egyptians in galabeyas, and the one-floor little houses, while on the other side, it is the famous Maadi, the one and only. The fancy, the luxurious, the heart of business, you can instantly see the gigantic winches and heavy-lifters, and among them, the almost skyscrapers of big companies, and on the banks of the same Nile, you can see the super fancy boats and platforms. Only in Cairo could you find such instant contrasts.

My daily bus ride for the past three years has been just as meaningful as any other experience I’ve had, if not more. In fact, it has been more interesting for me because I was rediscovering the city I’ve lived all my life in, but only confined in specific areas within.

The Ring Road has given me the experience of a lifetime; just knowing that the people of the bus are just as different, just as diverse, and just as confused as the city surrounding that bus. Knowing that each seat of that bus carried a different story was visualized right before my eyes as I decided to look outside of the window and see how that road is nothing but a trip into contrasts and confusions too.

How can one not call this a true travel experience? Because after all, what is travel all about, if not about the diversities of people and places and how they touch us?

For the first time, AUC was the main partner and host of #RiseUpAtAUC, the one-stop-shop event connecting startups in the Middle East and Africa, with more than 20 of AUC’s faculty and alumni as guest speakers.

In his speech at the opening of RiseUp ‘19, AUC President Francis Ricciardone emphasized the University’s role in inspiring its students to utilize their education to better serve Egypt and the communities around them. “At AUC, Egypt’s global University, we bring the world back to Egypt and we bring Egypt to the world — and not only for tourism, which is a wonderful thing, but for learning, creating, researching and developing projects and products that will improve lives. That’s what AUC is about. This is the right place for RiseUp Summit 2019,” said Ricciardone.

In its seventh edition, the summit bustled with the region's top entrepreneurs, startups, investors, creative masterminds and Fortune 500 companies. This year’s summit built on past ones, focusing on the Journey to Growth as its main theme, as well as drawing the line between the past, present and future. The three-day summit included talks, panels and chats; in-depth workshops and boot camps; networking sessions with hundreds of investors; talent matchmaking events; and exclusive satellite events.

AUC alumni speakers included Mohamed Aboul Naga ‘09, co-founder and CCO of Halan; Yaseen Abdel Ghaffar ‘10, managing director of SolarizEgypt; and Karim Fahmy ’17, CEO and co-founder of Inploy, who all stood on RiseUp’s stage to tackle different entrepreneurial topics together with international figures in various fields, including Brian Collins, chief creative officer at COLLINS; Gerardo Mazzeo, global innovation director at Nestlé; Karen Cheng, head of social at 9GAG; Marcel Muenster, founder and director of the Gritti Fund; Raya Abirached, TV presenter; and Samih Sawiris, founder of Orascom Holding AD.

“It feels very nostalgic to be back on campus for the RiseUp summit this year," said Islam Shawky, CEO and co-founder of PayMob, an infrastructure technology enabler providing payment solutions company. "I started school in 2008, so AUC New Cairo is the only campus I know. We started our company on this campus, as the six members of the founding team are AUC graduates, so we are extremely nostalgic.”

Among the workshops that took place throughout the three-day entrepreneurial marathon was one held by Kim Fox, professor of practice in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, titled What You Need to Know About Starting Your Own Podcast.

“I'm such a fan of RiseUp Summit because it brings together the vibrant community of thought leaders, creatives and more; the energy is contagious and inspiring,” said Fox. The ability to reach out to other attendees and speakers for potential collaborations and knowledge sharing is achievable and encouraging. It was nice to see so many of my former students and colleagues there.”

Ramez Youssef, co-founder of Tayarah, a creative production agency, also held a workshop titled From Trendsetters to Trend-Seekers. “RiseUp Summit feels so different this year, being at AUC New Cairo. The content is also different, as different people are delivering different messages,” he said. 

Startups from AUC Venture Lab (V-Lab), Egypt’s first University-based startup accelerator and a leading accelerator in the Middle East and Africa, also participated in the summit. In a special booth for the V-Lab, graduates of this year’s cycle shared their experiences with the attendees and highlighted the impact of their ideas and businesses on the Egyptian economy.

"The AUC Venture Lab had a strong presence in RiseUp Summit this year, with more than 24 startups presenting their innovations to the summit participants, investors and international partners,” said Ayman Ismail '95, '97, Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship; associate professor at School of Business and the founding director of the AUC Venture Lab. AUC also announced the launch of the new Innovation Hub, focusing on attracting corporate innovation labs to be based on campus and expand their collaboration with AUC faculty and students. Our end goal is to create a collaborative community of entrepreneurship and innovation at AUC and Egypt.”

RiseUp Summit 2019 held a competition for the best educational applications at the event, where AGORA, a V-Lab startup, ranked first and won the African App Launchpad Cup and a monetary prize. AGORA is an ed-tech app that empowers children to explore the world around them and learn from it through Augmented Reality.

The summit also included a Creative Marketplace featuring some of Cairo’s creative startups that displayed their products, including Doodle Factory and Babyfist.

As AUC turns 100, the University is not only celebrating its century-long achievements, but also looking to the future, ushering in a new centennial of innovation and service to the community.

Checkout AUC' centennial website to know  more about the upcoming centennial events.

Watch here some of AUC President Francis Ricciardone's insights about the event.

#RiseUpAtAUC  #AUCFutureMakers

Mariam Ibrahim '19, a graphic design graduate, was featured on CNN and at the Global Grad Show in Dubai for her project Hale, a series of hospital garments designed to improve a patient's sense of well-being. Made with antibacterial materials, the gowns use sensors to track a patient's temperature, blood pressure, oxygen and other vital signs. It updates an app every 10 seconds, giving a complete overview of a patient throughout the day.

Ibrahim was among several international students from around the world who gathered at the Global Grad Show in Dubai, "presenting their solutions to the world's most pressing issues." Watch the CNN video here:

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/design/2019/11/21/global-gateway-dubai-design-week-grad-show-2019-lon-orig.cnn

The International Association of Egyptologists awarded Fayza Haikal, professor of Egyptology at AUC, an Honorary Membership — the association's highest accolade — "for a lifetime of brilliant scholarly contributions to Egyptology." Only four other people have ever been recognized with this honor since the establishment of the association in the early 1970s.

Previously, Haikal was honored by the British-based Egypt Exploration Society and the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities for her illustrious career in Egyptology.

Reflecting on her time at AUC, Haikal noted, "I was hired by AUC to create a major in Egyptology. It was done, and thanks to my colleagues — and here I have to mention the dynamism they all put in to build up its reputation, particularly Professor Salima Ikram — I believe that today, it is a well-established, well-famed program for undergraduates as well as graduates."

Haikal is a leading female figure in Egyptology in Egypt. She was the first Egyptian woman to earn a PhD in Egyptology and the first female president of the International Association of Egyptologists. Haikal was also the first Egyptian woman to work in Nubia during the salvage of monuments threatened by the building of the Aswan High Dam and organized a project to protect archeological sites during the construction of the Peace Canal in northern Sinai.

Emphasizing the distinctiveness of studying Egyptology at AUC, Haikal affirmed, "Our students have the privilege to study Egyptology in Egypt where they can not only access archeological sites in addition to museums, but can meet international scholars from all the archeological institutes based in Egypt and excavating in Egypt. They can also attend lectures on the most recent discoveries and other related topics almost every day, in addition to their regular curriculum. I have been teaching at AUC for 35 years and can say that, today, most of them have completed PhDs at the best universities in Europe and the United States or at least pursued a master's degree at AUC and contributed to many projects by the Ministry of Antiquities. I am indeed very proud of them."

Haikal received her bachelor's in Egyptology from Cairo University and her PhD in Egyptology from Oxford University in England. Her international career in academia has included posts as a visiting professor at Charles University in Prague (2000) and La Sapienza in Roma (1994). Furthermore, she has lectured extensively in North and South America, Europe, the Far East and Africa.  In 2006 - 2007, Haikal was the Blaise Pascal Chair of Research, offered by The Fondation de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure and hosted by the Sorbonne, for researching and lecturing.

Words of advice from Haikal? "Love your work and work hard. One will never know enough!"

For the first time, AUC will be the main partner and host of RiseUp Summit, the one-stop-shop event connecting startups in the Middle East and Africa.

In its seventh edition, RiseUp will host the region's top entrepreneurs, startups, investors, creative masterminds and Fortune 500 companies in a three-day entrepreneurial marathon. For the first time, RiseUp summit will also feature Arabic content, where various speakers from the region will present their own journey of growth on stage in Arabic.

This year’s theme is designed to build on past years’ summit content, focusing on the journey of growth as well as drawing the line between the past, present and future. The three-day summit will include talks, panels and chats; in-depth workshops and bootcamps; networking sessions with hundreds of investors; talent matchmaking events; and exclusive satellite events.

“We see value in accommodating such a major event like RiseUp Summit in our centennial year, in which we are expecting more than 8,000 participants coming from 50 to 60 different countries as well as many prominent speakers,” said Alaa Adris, associate provost for research, innovation and creativity at AUC. “We see our collaboration with RiseUp more of a sustainable relationship because we can see them as part of our innovation hub, our commercialization of technology efforts, and many other areas of interest and future plans.”

Through the summit, startups will have the opportunity to assess their current situation, and determine how they can progress steadily but confidently from their core to their vision, through strategy, execution, tips, and tricks.

“Having organized the summit for the past seven years, we were able to identify the challenges faced by startups in the region, which allowed us to develop a complete model that they can follow when venturing through the entrepreneurship ecosystem,” explained AbdelHameed Sharara, chief executive officer and co-founder of RiseUp. “After dissecting growth, we found that there is no fixed manual on how to grow; it is a personal and unique journey for each entrepreneur. So what we can offer to people is diverse [with] unlimited resources and opportunities, along with a roadmap that guides them through this journey. Being committed to our own growth strategy, we decided to move to AUC's New Cairo campus, allowing us to grow further in all aspects.”

The speaker line-up will feature many international figures in various fields, including Brian Collins, chief creative officer at COLLINS; Gerardo Mazzeo, global innovation director at Nestlé; Karen Cheng, head of social at 9GAG; Marcel Muenster, founder, and director of the Gritti Fund and Raya Abirached, TV presenter.

"AUC Venture Lab has always been an early believer in RiseUp Summit. This year, we are excited to have RiseUp at AUC New Cairo campus for the first time, bringing thousands of entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem players from Egypt, MENA and beyond. We're pleased to have a strong presence through our startups and to contribute to the Summit's program," said Ayman Ismail '95, '97,  Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship; associate professor at School of Business and the founding director of the AUC Venture Lab. 

“We are exploring with RiseUp other collaboration opportunities like founding an academy for entrepreneurship, for instance, where students can come to learn and acquire basic skills for entrepreneurship. This is just the beginning,” affirmed Adris.

Click here to know how to get your tickets.

#AUCFutureMakers

Atta Gebril, associate professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics, and Mona Amer '98, associate professor and chair of the Department of Psychology,received the Elsevier 2019 Scopus Researcher Awards for the impact of their research in the fields of education and psychology, respectively, on Egyptian society. Gebril and Amer are the only two award recipients from AUC.

Alongside Elsevier Chairman, YS Chi, Ministers from the Egyptian Government, University Presidents, Directors from various institutional centers and top cited Egyptian scientists attended the awards ceremony, which highlighted the important milestones and research that have helped advance Egypt Vision 2030, the Egyptian government's sustainable development strategy. 

Read more about the award and their research. 

International scholars and Egyptologists from Egypt, the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Switzerland, France, Germany and a host of other countries will be at AUC Tahrir Square from October 31 to November 2 for the Women in Ancient Egypt: Current Research and Historical Trends conference, the first-of-its-kind in Egypt and the Middle East. 

The largest gathering of scholars working on women in Ancient Egypt, the conference will discuss different topics related to ancient Egyptian women: law, portrayal in literature, cultic participation and access to power.  

Click here for the conference website.