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angEla Jurdak khoury
Wadad baroudi lahoud
Often referred to as the “first Lebanese woman diplomat,” Angela Jurdak Khoury graduated from AJCW in 1935. She pursued studies in sociology and completed a Ph.D. in international relations from the American University in Washington before enrolling in the Geneva School of International Studies in Switzerland. After Lebanon’s independence in 1943, Khoury joined the diplomatic corps in Washington D.C. and served as Consul of Lebanon in New York.
Wadad Baroudi Lahoud graduated from AJCW in 1946. One of the first graduates of the Social Work Program initiated at BCW, she is generally considered a pioneering woman in this field. She was principal of the Lebanese School for the Blind & Deaf for years, and played an active role in the social and familial integration of the disabled.
Eva badrE Malik
SaniyEh habboub naccaSh
Eva Badre Malik graduated from AJCW in 1934 and pursued higher studies in Arabic History and Literature. Three years later she joined the college as an instructor of Arabic and Near East History. She played a distinguished role in lobbying for Lebanon’s independence from the French Mandate, and shortly after in the establishment of the League of Lebanese Women. She was BCW Alumnae Association president for three consecutive terms.
Saniyeh Habboub Naccash graduated from AJCW in 1926, and went on to earn her MD in gynecology and obstetrics from the Women’s Medical College in Pennsylvania. In 1932, she opened a private clinic in obstetrics and general medicine in Beirut, paving the way for other female doctors to follow suite. Naccash co-founded the Lebanese Red Cross.
SalWa naSSar
Mary hanania rEgiEr
Salwa Nassar graduated from AJCW in 1933, and went on to receive her Ph.D. in physics, becoming one of the first female nuclear physicists in the Middle East. She headed the Science Department at BCW in 1945, and became the university’s first Lebanese president in 1966. Nassar enjoyed an international reputation as a scientist, and was a member of numerous professional associations.
Mary Hanania Regier graduated from AJCW in 1944. She went on to become the first student to receive an M.A. in Mathematics from AUB, and the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in statistics in the Middle East. Regier taught at both BCW and AUB, was a distinguished member of the American Statistical Association, and president of the BCW Alumnae Association between 1948 and 1952.