Lisa Anderson

President

American University in Cairo

Lisa Anderson is the President of the American University in Cairo, Egypt. She was previously the James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations in the Political Science Department and the Dean Emerita of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. She was on the faculty of Columbia since 1986; prior to her appointment as Dean, she served as Chair of the Political Science Department and Director of Columbia's Middle East Institute.  She has taught at Harvard University in the Government and Social Studies departments.

Anderson’s research includes work on state formation in the Middle East and North Africa; on regime change and democratization in developing countries; and on social science, academic research and public policy both in the United States and around the world.  She is author of The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830-1980 (1986) , co-editor of The Origins of Arab Nationalism (1991), editor of Transitions to Democracy (1999) and author of Pursuing Truth, Exercising Power: Social Science and Public Policy in the Twenty-first Century (2003), as well as numerous scholarly articles.
 Provost Anderson has served on the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch from 1988-2003; as the President of the Middle East Studies Association in 2003 and on the Council of the American Political Science Association from 2004-2006. She also served on the Board of Trustees of the American University in Cairo (2006-2008) and as Chair of the Board of the Social Science Research Council (1998-2008).  A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she also serves on the Board of the First Eagle Funds.