About Kamal Adham Center
It all started in 1983 when the American University in Cairo’s president and provost requested journalism professor Abdallah Schleifer to create a program. In 1988, former AUC President Richard Pedersen and Sheikh Kamal Adham, after whom the center was named, formally inaugurated the center offering the first Master of Arts degree in television journalism in the Arab world.
In 2005, Lawrence Pintak, a news journalist, took over as the center’s director. In 2010, radio and television broadcaster Hafez Al Mirazi assumed the helm of the Adham Center for five years. Since February 2016, Hussein Amin, professor of journalism at The American University of Cairo with a long affiliation with the Adham Center, has led the unit, which has a three-tier mission centering on graduate education, training, and research.
The Kamal Adham Center’s master’s in television and digital journalism is unique for its focus on all aspects of the reporting and production in the digital era, training students in core reporting, interviewing, new media, and studio production skills. Student’s not only gain professional experience, but also examine the role and responsibilities of journalists in a changing media environment. Our alumni have gone on to promising careers with Arab and international media organizations.
In addition, the center’s widely recognized Professional Development Program offers courses in voice coaching, camera operation, video editing, studio directing, and documentary filmmaking. The Adham Center partners with a range of international agencies and foundations to administer civil society, public service, and media training projects.
The Adham Center endeavors to expand knowledge in the field of media and communications through scholarship. The center publishes the online journal Arab Media & Society, a forum for academics and journalists to publish research, analysis, and commentary in the field of Arab media.
The center’s state-of-the-art facilities include broadcast-quality television studios attached to an automated teaching newsroom, operating on the Associated Press’s ENPS platform, thus duplicating the workflow of professional television operations. Other resources include two video editing labs and the latest in digital field cameras.
Students and staff of the center operate AUC TV, an in-house television channel featuring student programming and live coverage of on-campus events.
Vision
To become a globally recognized center of excellence in television and digital journalism, empowering the Arab knowledge society.
Mission
To advance television and digital journalism by offering first class postgraduate education and practical training. We endeavor to expand knowledge in the field of media and communications through scholarship, publishing cutting-edge research and authoritative analysis. We strive to enlighten the community through innovative and creative learning opportunities.