Dr. Nada Mourtada-Sabbah is the Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs of the American University of Sharjah (AUS). She was one of the pioneer faculty members who joined AUS when it first opened its doors in 1997. Professor Mourtada-Sabbah was subsequently elected President of the AUS Faculty Senate, and served as the founding Chair of the Department of International Studies for three years, successfully overseeing its accreditation. She was then appointed as the Assistant to the Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs from 2007 to 2009 and held this position until the AUS Board of Trustees appointed her to the newly created position of the Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs.
Vice Chancellor Mourtada-Sabbah also serves on the Board of Trustees for the College of Saint Benedict, one of the leading Catholic liberal arts universities in the United States.
In her capacity as Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs, Dr. Mourtada-Sabbah built up the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs from scratch, spearheading the University’s endeavors to further institutional advancement efforts and interact with industry and the community at large, as well as creating a database of alumni and prominent "Friends of the University" AUS now has 1500 corporate partners and a number of prominent "Friends of the University", who are actively engaged with the University and contribute to furthering its educational mission.
Dr. Mourtada-Sabbah was promoted through the ranks at AUS from Assistant Professor to Full Professor of Public Law and International Studies. She is the recipient of the "AUS Excellence in Teaching Award" and the "AUS Excellence in Service Award." Professor Mourtada received a BA with distinction from the American University in Beirut where she was the recipient of the Penrose Award for the most outstanding qualities of leadership, scholarship and contributions to the University as a whole.
She holds a PhD in Public Law with distinction from the University of Paris II. She has held visiting professorships at major universities and research institutions in the US and Europe, including the University of California at Berkeley; the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; the Congressional Research Service (Library of Congress); the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington, DC; the University of Paris Law School; and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po.)
Her books include Le Privilège de l'Exécutif aux Etats-Unis (L.G.D.J),; Is War a Political Question; Globalization and the Gulf (UK: Routledge, 2007), and The Supreme Court of the United States and the Political Question Doctrine (Berkeley Public Policy Press, 2007). Some of her many articles have appeared in the Harvard Middle Eastern and Islamic Review, White House Studies, Maghreb-Mashrek, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Revue Pouvoirs, Revue Internationale de Droit Comparé, Annuaire Francais de Relations Internationales, and Revue du Droit Public et de la Science Politique en France et á l'Etranger.
Professor Mourtada-Sabbah has been invited to lecture at Johns Hopkins University (SAIS), Georgetown University (CCAS), Washington Center for Strategic Studies, the American University of Cairo, American University, Science Po, the United Nations, NATO, Chatham House, the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), the Dubai School of Government, and the Emirates Institute of Diplomacy.