Dr. Barbara Ibrahim
Dr. Barbara Lethem Ibrahim is founding director of the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, established in 2006 at the American University in Cairo. Previously, she served as regional director for West Asia and North Africa of the Population Council and as a program officer for Urban Poverty at the Ford Foundation. Barbara considers herself a global migrant. She was born and educated in the United States, studied in Beirut, and moved to Egypt with her husband, where she has lived and worked since 1975.
Barbara's book Charity to Social Change: Trends in Arab Philanthropy was published in English and Arabic in 2008-2009. Other publications are on youth activism in Egypt, adolescent survey research in multiple countries, and the roles of higher education in civic transformations. In 1999, she was inducted into the International Educators’ Hall of Fame and received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Association of Middle East Women’s Studies in 2003. She currently serves on the board of Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support (WINGS) and the Ibn Khaldun Center in Cairo.
Barbara's MA in Sociology is from the American University of Beirut and PhD from Indiana University.