American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut (AUB), founded in 1866 by Dr. Daniel Bliss, is a private, independent and non-sectarian institution of higher learning, functioning under a charter from the state of New York.
Located in Ras Beirut, AUB’s main campus has a total of 80 buildings. The campus includes an athletic field, a private beach, a bird sanctuary, and a repository of over 10,000 native and non-native trees and shrubs. It comprises six dormitories, a medical center, computer labs, an archeological museum, and a natural history museum – Lebanon’s only geological collection. There are four main libraries, the central Jafet Memorial Library and its two branch libraries, the Engineering and Architecture Library and the Science and Agriculture Library with its annex AREC (Farm) Library. The Saab Medical Memorial Library (SML) is one of the leading medical libraries in the Middle East.
Throughout its long history, AUB has grown to become a university with over 7,000 students located on a 73-acre campus, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The college, called the Syrian Protestant College at that time (and changed in 1920 to the American University of Beirut), opened with its first class of 16 students on December 3, 1866. The cornerstone of College Hall, the oldest building on the present campus, was laid on December 7, 1871. On that occasion, Dr. Daniel Bliss, president of the college, expressed the guiding principle of the college in these words: “This college is for all conditions and classes of men without regard to color, nationality, race or religion. A man, white, black, or yellow, Christian, Jew, Muslim or heathen, may enter and enjoy all the advantages of this institution for three, four or eight years; and go out believing in one God, in many gods, or in no God. But it will be impossible for anyone to continue with us long without knowing what we believe to be the truth and our reasons for that belief.”
AUB graduates are known worldwide, and many alumni have attained high position in almost every field.
