Liberal arts education – sometimes described as “cross-training for the mind” – is widely acknowledged to foster creativity, agility, resilience and intellectual breadth. Yet the liberal arts are still often misunderstood or overlooked in the face of the pressing demands of fast-changing labour markets, global ranking systems, and national security priorities.
Dr Lisa Anderson, a member of the University’s Board of Trustees speaks about her experiences with the liberal arts
at AKU auditorium in Karachi.
Dr Anderson served as the President of the American University in Cairo for five years. A specialist on politics in the Middle East and North Africa, Anderson served as the University’s Provost from 2008 to 2010. As the chief academic officer, she was responsible for shaping and implementing AUC’s academic vision.
Prior to joining AUC in 2008, Anderson served as James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations at Columbia University and is the Former Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia.
She also served as the Chair of the Political Science Department at Columbia University and as the Director of Columbia’s Middle East Institute. Before joining Columbia, she was Assistant Professor of Government and Social Studies at Harvard University.
Dr Anderson is the author of
Pursuing Truth, Exercising Power: Social Science and Public Policy in the Twenty-first Century (Columbia University Press, 2003), The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830-1980 (Princeton University Press, 1986), editor of
Transitions to Democracy (Columbia University Press, 1999), and co-editor of
The Origins of Arab Nationalism (Columbia University Press, 1991).
She has also served as the past President of the Middle East Studies Association and past Chair of the Board of the Social Science Research Council.
Dr Anderson is also a former member of the Council of the American Political Science Association and served on the board of the Carnegie Council on Ethics in International Affairs.
She is Board Member Emerita of the Human Rights Watch, where she served as Co-chair of Human Rights Watch/Middle East, Co-chair of the International Advisory Board of the Von Humbolt Foundation and member of the International Advisory Council of the World Congress for Middle East Studies.
She is also a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Dr Anderson holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, a MA in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She earned a PhD in Political Science from Columbia University and has been awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from Monmouth University. She joined the AKU Board of Trustees in 2016.