Sheikha Dana honored with a doctoral degree
Dartmouth awards
Sheikha Dana Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah
KUWAIT CITY, May 24: Sheikha Dana Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Founder and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the American University of Kuwait (AUK), will receive a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, for founding Kuwait’s first and only Liberal Arts University. Established in 2003 as an independent, private, equal opportunity, and coeducational institution, AUK offers a liberal arts education based on an American model, developed out of AUK’s long-standing collaboration with Dartmouth.
Al-Sabah is the chairwoman of United Education Co (UEC), Kuwait’s leading company in the education sector. UEC consolidates seven K-12 schools with over 12,500 students. The United Education network includes some of the leading American, Indian, and Pakistani schools in Kuwait.
She is also the Chief Executive Officer of Al-Futooh Holding Co, the major stakeholder in Kuwait Project Co (KIPCO), a multi-sector operating holding company with a diversified portfolio spanning the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the wider Middle East and North Africa region.
Al-Sabah received a BA in English Literature from Kuwait University and studied at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. The other honorary degree recipients are:
Jake Tapper ’91, Award-winning journalist and CNN news anchor
Frances Arnold, professor of chemical engineering, biochemistry, and bioengineering
Abbey D’Agostino ’14, NCAA champion runner and Olympic athlete Bob ’57 and Dottie King, philanthropists Jim Sinegal, co-founder of Costco Wholesale Corp. Anna Deavere Smith, actress, playwright, and teacher C. Fordham von Reyn ’67, professor and director of DarDar International Programs.
Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, an “Ivy League” member, is the international partner institution to the American University of Kuwait (AUK). Dartmouth and AUK have worked closely together since 2003, when the two institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding that facilitated a series of advisory, consultative, and cooperative projects. Dale F. Eickelman, Relationship Coordinator of the American University of Kuwait-Dartmouth College Program, and Ralph and Richard Lazarus Professor of Anthropology and Human Relations Emeritus, has worked with AUK since 2003. He said: “We share with Sheikha Dana the excitement of creating a liberal arts university. She recognizes how universities old and new have continuously to adapt to new challenges. Both Dartmouth and AUK learn from one another.”
Dartmouth College was founded in 1769 and offers a broad-based undergraduate education, as well as advanced degrees in the arts and sciences, medicine, engineering, and business administration. Dartmouth has been accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) since 1929.