All AUB Mediterraneo students will become members of a global AUB family. Our more than 74,000 alumni live in more than 115 countries around the world. More than three-fourths (76 percent) are based in Lebanon; 10 percent in the MENA region; 9 percent in North America; 3 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America; and 2 percent in Europe. They work in governments, hospitals, schools, and refugee camps; they are making scientific discoveries, pioneering businesses, and transforming neighborhoods; they are raising families, caring for neighbors, and building communities.
AUB graduates have served as presidents of their countries, prime ministers, foreign ministers, members of parliament, ambassadors, governors of central banks, and as presidents and deans of colleges and universities.
AUB played a singular role in the establishment of the United Nations. Five AUB alumni signed the UN Charter: Fadel Jamali (BA 1927) for Iraq; Charles Malek (BA 1927) for Lebanon; and Faris al-Khoury (BA 1897), Naim al-Antaki (former student 1924), and Nazem al-Koudsi (former student 1920) for Syria. More than 20 AUB alumni attended the San Francisco Conference in 1945 that resulted in the creation of the United Nations as delegates, assistant delegates, advisers, and observers.
Some AUB alumni have gone on to establish companies that are known worldwide such as Consolidated Contractors Group of Companies (CCC Group), co-founded by Kamel Abdul-Rahman and alumni Hasib Sabbagh (BA ‘41, honorary doctorate in humane letters ‘03) and Said Khoury; Dar Al-Handasah Consultants (Shair and Partners), founded by alumnus Kamal A. Shair; IHS Towers, founded by alumni Issam Darwish, Mohammad Darwish, and William Saad; PEB Steel, co-founded by alumni (and brothers) Sami Kteily (BBA ’78, EMBA ’21) and Adib Kouteili (BE ’83); and Petrofac International, co-founded by alumnus Maroun Semaan (BE ’77) and Trustee Ayman Asfari AUB alumni have excelled throughout the world and in many fields.
They are also prominent in medicine and healthcare in the United States. Alumnus Ardem Patapoutian (1985- 86), who is a neuroscience professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Scripps Research, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2021) with David Julius for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch. Other prominent medical alumni include Huda Y. Zoghbi (BS ’76), who holds the Ralph D. Feigin Chair at Baylor College of Medicine, where she is also a professor of pediatrics, neurology, neuroscience, and molecular and human genetics; Dr. Bechara Choucair (MD ’97), the former White House Vaccinations Coordinator; and Dr. Adnan Munkarah (BS ’82, MD ’85), the Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer for Henry Ford Health System.
More recent graduates have gone on to establish successful companies such as Instabeat, founded by Hind Hobeika (BE ’10), who raised $4 million from Berytech Fund II, enabling her to move her company to San Francisco; LittleBits, founded by Aya Bdeir (BE ’04), who has raised more than $60 million in venture capital funding; RoadieTuner, founded by Bassam Jalgha (BE ’08, ME ’11) and Hassane Slaibi (BE ’09), who have so far raised more than $4 million; The Little Engineer, founded by Rana El Chemaitelly (BE ’93, ME ’08), who has received numerous awards including the “Coup de Coeur Femme by “Medventures” for the Mediterranean in 2010, selected the woman entrepreneur by the American Embassy to participate in the International Visitor Leadership Program “IVLP” 2011, won the Cartier Women Initiative for the MENA region in 2011 and the Green Mind Award in 2012; and Yamli, which was founded by Habib Haddad (BE ’02) and acquired by Yahoo! in 2012.
Wherever they go, and whatever they do, our alumni carry with them a belief that there can and must be a better world, where the best and brightest come together “without distinction in regard to nationality or religion” to build just, inclusive, and fair societies for all.
About WAAAUB and the WAAAUB Alumni Chapters
The Worldwide Alumni Association of AUB (WAAAUB) works to strengthen the ties between AUB and its alumni to engage all alumni in supporting the goals and the educational, research,
and service mission of the university. There are 67 alumni chapters and branches around the world: 26 in North America, 10 professional chapters, and 31 in the rest of the world as detailed below:
- 26 in North America (22 in the US, 4 in Canada)
- 15 in Lebanon, including 10 professional chapters
- 13 in MENA (Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the UAE)
- 8 in Europe (Cyprus, Germany, Greece, France, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK)
- 5 in the rest of the world (Australia, Ivory Coast, Maldives, Nigeria, and Sudan)
About the Cyprus Chapter
There are currently several hundred AUB alumni living in Cyprus, many of whom are Cypriot nationals. AUB alumni have played, and continue to play, key roles in Cyprus through their contributions in the private and public sectors. Some of our prominent alumni in Cyprus are Eliza Markidou Ioannidou (BS Biology '84), head of the Nutrition Department, Ministry of Health, Cyprus; Shadi Antoine Karam (BA Sociology '70, MA Sociology '72), Chairman, AstroBank; Soulla Christou Takkidou (BA Public Administration '85), Chief Executive Officer, Department of Public Administration and Personnel, Ministry of Finance, Cyprus; and Ioannis M. Violaris (BA Economics '78), Professor in Economics and Management, City Unity College, European University, Neapolis University, and Frederick University, Many of our alumni are members of the well-established and active alumni chapter.
The current leadership of the chapter is as follows:
President: Eliza Markidou Ioannidou (BA ’84)
Vice president: Andriana Christoforou Achilleos (BS ’83)
Immediate ex-president: Athanasia Kythreotou Zavou (BA ’72)
Secretary: Ward Wehbeh Christofi (BEN ’08)
Treasurer: Costakis A. Vatiliotis (BBA ’84)
Member at-Large: Ioannis M. Violaris (BA ’78)
Member at-Large: G. Solomonidou Christofidou (BBA ’83)
Member at-Large: Costas Tsiakkas (BBA ’83)
Member at-Large: Ghada Shami Christofides (BBA ’80)
Member at-Large: Ekaterini Georghiadou Economidou (BA ’81)
Member at-Large: Polycarpos Polycarpou (BBA ’83)
