Lisa Anderson
American political scientist
Lisa Anderson (born October 16, 1950) is an American political scientist and the former President of the American University in Cairo (AUC).
Research and career
A specialist on Middle Eastern and North African politics, Anderson served as the President of AUC from 2011 to 2016 and as Provost from 2008 to 2010. Prior to joining AUC, Anderson served as the James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations at Columbia University, the dean of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, the chair of the political science department and the director of the Middle East Institute. Previously, she was an assistant professor of government and social studies at Harvard University.
Anderson announced her departure from AUC in June 2015. The AUC Board asked her to leave because she removed the two-tier pay scale system that grossly underpaid Egyptian faculty, though they had the same stature as faculty from other countries. Lisa Anderson had an open door policy for students to directly discuss issues with her regarding all aspects of the university and the surrounding political turmoil. Anderson's demeanor was pragmatic, open, and flexible.
Affiliations
Anderson is the former president of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and former chair of the board of the Social Science Research Council. 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.
The public source identifies “Lisa Anderson” as american political scientist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Lisa, Anderson and American.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6557773. VIAF identifies the subject as 93364160. The Library of Congress control number is n85155984. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1950, 2011, 2016 and 2008.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lisa Anderson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.