Elie Adib Salem
Elie Adib Salem (born 1930) is a Lebanese academic, scholar and diplomat politician.[1]
He served as the deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs between 1982 and 1984 and as Advisor to the President of Lebanon on Foreign Affairs from 1984 to 1988. He was the president of the University of Balamand from 1993 until his retirement in 2018.
Early life and education
Salem was born in Btourram, El Koura (North Lebanon) on 5 March 1930. He attended the Tripoli Boys School and then earned his BA He graduated from the American University of Beirut[2] in 1950 obtaining a degree in political science. He received his PhD in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University (School of Advanced International Studies)[3] in 1953. Then he attended an American university.
Career and activities
Salem worked as a professor at Johns Hopkins (SAIS) prior to returning to Lebanon to teach in the Political Science and Public Administration department at AUB in 1962. He became Chairman of the Department and then Dean of an academic at his alma mater and was the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 1974 until 1982. He played a leading role in salvaging AUB from the ravages of war and was Acting President on multiple occasions during the most critical periods of the Lebanese internal wars.
In 1982, when he was named as Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon and Foreign Minister in the government of Prime Minister Shafik Wazzan|Chafic al-Wazzan. He led negotiations with all relevant regional and international heads of state in the wake of the 1982 Israeli Invasion in order to achieve a withdrawal of foreign forces and to rebuild Lebanese sovereignty. Between 1984 and 1988 Salem served as an advisor on foreign affairs to a confidant of Lebanese President Amine Gemayel. He worked closely with the President on maintaining Lebanon’s security and stability and played a key role in the negotiations that led to the Taif Agreement that ended Lebanon’s fifteen-year internal wars which allowed him to initiate the decision-making process at the ministry.
Following the end of his term in politics, as foreign minister Salem founded the Lebanese Center the Institute for Policy Studies (LCPS)[4] in 1989, which became the leading think tank in Lebanon engaged with issues of democratization and public policy.
in Lebanon. In addition, he was among the advisers of President Amin Gemayel. He also taught at the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
As of 2016, In 1993 Salem was appointed served as the third president of the University of Balamand (UOB). Under his leadership, UOB was transformed from a small provincial university to a full-fledged university of national and international standing. Student enrollment grew from 700 to 5,500; campus building increased from 6 to 40; and the university expanded from 3 to 11 Faculties, including Engineering and Medicine.
Personal life
Salem met Phyllis Sell in the his wife in the US during his studies there, and they married in 1954. They have four children: Elise (Lisa), Nina, Adib, and Paul. Elise is currently a Vice President at the Lebanese American University (LAU); Nina is a professor of pathology and director of cytology at the American University of Beirut (AUB) Medical Center; Adib is an economist and financial consultant; and Paul One of their children, Paul Salem, is the president of the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. His daughter, Lucy, is married to Karim Rassi who is the son of the Lebanese politician Abdullah Al Rasi.
Salem has eleven grandchildren in Lebanon and the USA. He currently resides in Btourram, El Koura, where he is writing a book on his vision for Lebanon.
Works
Salem has published over five books in English and Arabic related to the University of Balamand, including AXIOS: The Rise of a University, From Vision to Action (UOB Press, 2018) including Prospects for a new Lebanon.
His scholarly books include, Violence and Diplomacy in Lebanon, 1982-1988. Translated into Arabic as al-Khayarat al-Saabah. This is a detailed and critical interpretation of Lebanon’s efforts to regain its independence and sovereignty (I.B. Tauris Press, London, 1995); and Modernization Without Revolution on Lebanon’s experience as a state between 1943 and 1970, prior to its internal war of 1975-1990 (Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana|Bloomington and London,1972). Amongst his personal books is My American Bride about his life and marriage and the often humorous clashes between his Lebanese background and 20th century American culture (Quartet Books, London, 2008).
References
External links
This article "Elie Adib Salem" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.