When C. Michael Smith interviewed to be president of the American University of Afghanistan, he faced his toughest questions from an unexpected source: a group of 30 students in Kabul. “They really grilled me,” he says.

The students wanted to know how long Mr. Smith would stick around if he got the job. The university, which bills itself as Afghanistan’s “only independent, private, nonprofit, nonsectarian, coeducational institution of higher learning,” had already suffered from turnover at the top. The former minister of higher education who founded it, in 2004, was its first acting head. Its only previous president, Thomas M. Stauffer, resigned in September 2008, after less than two years of a controversy-marred tenure.

Read the full article here.

Download the Invite here:   Friends of AUAF_Invite to March 2 event

Friends of AUAF

Invites you to an event to learn about

The American University of Afghanistan with

His Excellency Ambassador Said. T. Jawad,

Afghan Ambassador to the United States

Location:

Current Lounge

1215 Connecticut Avenue, NW

Washington, DC

Date and Time:

Tuesday, March 2

5-7pm

For more information visit the following sites:

www.friendsofauaf.org and www.auaf.edu.af

$10 suggested donation to support higher education in Afghanistan

Please save the date for dinner in honor of Mrs. Laura W. Bush to benefit The American University of Afghanistan.

When:  Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Where: The National Museum of Women in the Arts

1250 New York Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20005-3970

Click here to buy a ticket to the event.

For questions, please contact Heidi Schaler at heidi.schaler@friendsofauaf.org or 202-580-6666.

Friends of AUAF Executive Director Heidi Schaler was profiled in the Daniels College of Business Alumni Publication the IMBA Communique.

You can read the article – which is found on page 10 – here.

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF AFGHANISTAN

Senator Inouye

Statement Placed into Congressional Record

November 18, 2009

Mr. President,

I rise today to apprise my colleagues of an impressive effort in Afghanistan.  I recently had the opportunity to visit with our military troops and civilian personnel serving in Afghanistan.  While I was there, I had the pleasure to meet Dr. Michael Smith, president of The American University of Afghanistan.  I was embarrassed to admit that until meeting Dr. Smith, I had never heard of the university.

Upon learning more about the university, I am encouraged to know that while bombs are bursting and bullets are flying, there is an ongoing and successful American mission to provide educational opportunities to the men and women of Afghanistan.

Today, the American University of Afghanistan has 450 students and will graduate their first class next spring.  The student body draws from every province and ethnic group in Afghanistan and is nineteen percent female and growing.  While the majority of faculty members are American, 15 other countries are represented, including Afghanistan.

The university models itself after other strong international American universities like the American University of Cairo and the American University of Beirut.  Its programs focus on business and entrepreneurship, information technology, and many other professional areas.

Since over 85 percent of the student body have been immigrants at some point in their lives and 29 percent of students graduated high school in Pakistan, one goal of creating this university is to enable Afghans the educational opportunity to earn a degree that can be utilized for the betterment of Afghanistan.

I know many of my colleagues have plans to travel to Afghanistan to visit with our troops.  I would encourage all of you to take some time to learn about this university which is one of the unsung efforts we have undertaken in Afghanistan.

I urge my colleagues to support this mission so when the military departs Afghanistan we can leave with a smile and our heads held high knowing that we have not only supported the security and stabilization of Afghanistan but have provided a sustained educational mission as well.