AUK Board of trustees appoints Dr Sullivan as AUK’s 5th president
Chair of the Board of Trustees of the American University of Kuwait, Sheikha Dana Nasser Al-Sabah, announced yesterday, that on Sunday, October 23, 2016, AUK’s Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to appoint Professor Earl L “Tim” Sullivan as the fifth president of AUK effective January 27, 2017.
“Professor Sullivan brings a wealth of experience to this position, and has a deep understanding of academic and administrative structures. He carries an impressive scholarly record and is committed to quality education. Sullivan is not a stranger to AUK; he has served as the interim president in 2010 and has been a board member since 2011,” said Sheikha Dana.
“I am delighted to be returning to Kuwait, and especially to the American University of Kuwait. I look forward to getting to meet with all of the various constituents of the AUK community: faculty, staff, students, alumni, and trustees. AUK has achieved a great deal in the few short years it has existed, and I am sure that if we all work together, we can continue to accomplish even more in the future,” said Sullivan.
Sullivan will succeed Professor Nizar Hamzeh, who earlier announced his intention to return to his full-time academic post as Professor of Political Science and International Law at AUK. Sheikha Dana thanked Hamzeh for his invaluable time and effort during his term as AUK President, “I would like to take a moment to express my gratitude for everything President Hamzeh has done for AUK during his tenure as President and, earlier, as Provost and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences,” she said.
Sullivan is a political scientist who has held key leadership positions at the American University of Cairo (AUC). A member of the AUC faculty since 1973- he was provost from 1998 to 2008, and served as the university’s acting president in 2001-2002. He chaired AUC’s division of Economics, Political Science and Mass Communications, the University Senate, and was on the editorial board of Cairo Papers in Social Science. Sullivan served as Chair of the Board of Trustees at Cairo American College from 1974 to 1979.
Sullivan also brings substantial experience in international accreditation, having served twice as chair of the evaluation team for the American University of Beirut in its initial accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in 2004, and subsequently in 2009. He was also evaluator for John Cabot University in its first reaccreditation effort with Middle States.
A graduate of Seattle University, Sullivan received a PhD in International Relations and Government from Claremont Graduate University (California). He has received a grant from the Ford Foundation, a fellowship from the US Department of State, and has held visiting positions at the Brookings Institution, The Gustave E Von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies, and The Middle East Center at University of Utah, among others.
He is the author or co-author of several books, including The New Dynamics of Multilateralism (Westview Press, 2010), Social Background and Bureaucratic Behavior in Egypt (American University of Cairo Press, 1990), Women in Egyptian Public Life (Syracuse University Press, 1986), and Women and Work in the Arab World (American University of Cairo Press, 1981). Sullivan’s scholarly articles and monographs on a wide range of subjects, including multinational diplomacy and the foreign policy of US President Bill Clinton, gender roles in the Middle East, and the United Nations in the post-Cold War era, appear in numerous journals and publications.