Year of the woman
1921
The American University of Beirut opens its doors to the first cohort of women in regular degree programs, decades before many top-ranked universities worldwide.
March 6, 2021
AUB kicks off a year of celebrating its coeducation centennial with the AUB4Women online event featuring Queen Noor and four accomplished alumnae.
AUB launches the AUB4Women campaign, which has raised $1.2 million as of May 15, 2022, to support scholarships for exceptional women students at AUB.
An online seminar is held with the title of “Feminists Battle for Justice, 26 Years after Beijing” cosponsored by the AUB Global Engagement Initiative and the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship.
September 27, 2021
The coeducation centennial branding and email signature is launched, along with an article on the history of coeducation at AUB titled, “The long road to equality.”
October 4, 2021
The Asfari Institute begins featuring a curated collection of graduate student theses focusing on different topics related to gender equality and intersectional feminism.
October 5, 2021
The University Libraries announce an agreement to acquire the “Pioneers and Leaders: Knowledge Center about Arab Women” web content from the University of Maryland.
October 27, 2021
“In Her Words” video featuring AUB women professors giving advice to the next generation premieres, from the Title IX Student Committee on Discriminatory Harassment.
November 15, 2021
The President’s Perspective “That she may have an abundant life” links remarkable AUB women of past and present and looks at ongoing efforts at the university to attain true gender equality.
November 18, 2021
AUB’s first Wikipedia Edit-a-thon is held where students, faculty, and staff gather to diversify content and add more information about Arab women. A second edit-a-thon is held in March 2022.
November 24, 2021
The Political Studies and Public Administration Student Society hosts an event featuring AUB graduates, professors, and instructors, who shed light on their accomplishments and inspire younger women.
December 6, 2021
AUB’s 155th Founders Day ceremony is focused on the coeducation centennial with keynote speaker Sheikha Altaf Al Sabah of Kuwait, herself a pioneering alumna.
December 10, 2021
The “Stories of Women from the Archives” exhibit at Jafet Memorial Library is launched with a wealth of books and manuscripts by women, photos of campus life, movie posters and more.
March 8, 2022
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, a series of diverse events is held across campus. At the University Libraries: Lebanon’s Ambassador to the UN gives a keynote address on the state of women in our region.
The archives launches the exhibit “Women Pioneers in the Arab Press (1892–1925).”
The Asfari Institute hosts an intergenerational panel discussion featuring women students, recent grads, and professors.
At the AUB Archaeological Museum: An art installation of Andreé Hochar Fattal’s bronze sculptures interacting with the museum’s collection of goddesses of fertility opens.
Scheherazade’s Diary, a film by Zeina Daccache, is screened, followed by a Q&A with the director.
An exhibit and book distribution are held at Jafet Library honoring Anissa Rawdah Najjar (BA ’36), a pioneering women’s rights activist and one of the Arab world’s first female journalists.
“The first thing I was ever sure of is this: no matter what I do, how I behave, what I think, and what I say, I will be objectified, I will be perceived as less, I will be underestimated; I will be all of those things because I am a woman. And so, I make it my life’s purpose to speak out, to learn and to educate myself and others, to have opinions, to express my liberty to agree and disagree, and to take up as much space as I possibly can. “
– Rita Maria Ibrahim, 1st place winner of the Founders Day Essay Contest