Noha El-Mikawy

Noha El-Mikawy has a bachelor's degree in political science from The American University in Cairo. She holds a master's degree in comparative politics and international relations and a PhD in comparative politics, both from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). El-Mikawy is returning to AUC following a 30-year professional career that combines academic service, publication, policy advising and knowledge production, as well as strategic and management experience in a leading US funding agency. El-Mikawy is coming to AUC following 10 years as the regional director of the Ford Foundation for the Middle East and North Africa. Her tenure at Ford helped create university partnerships between the region and North and Central America, the UK, India, and South Africa, as well as helped provide institutional support to various universities and think tanks in the Arab region, including AUB, AUC, Cairo University and the Arab Council for Social Sciences. She previously worked with UNDP’s Bureau of Development Policy and Regional Bureau of Arab States as the regional policy advisor, providing technical advice on governance programs of UNDP offices across the Arab region. In addition to being a policy practitioner, El-Mikawy’s academic background includes research development and management at the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn, Germany, as well as teaching at UCLA, AUC, the Free University of Berlin and the University of Elangen. She has published two books on Egypt with AUC press and several articles and book chapters on governance and institutional reform in Egypt and the Arab region including with Oxford and Cambridge University Press.