University Honors Program Associate Director Roderick French will serve as the first chancellor of a new American-style university in the United Arab Emirates.

French, a philosophy professor, was previously the director of University seminars for the honors program and is the faculty adviser for ex nihilo, GW’s undergraduate research journal.

He also has served as the University’s vice president for academic affairs and director of the division of special programs.

As chancellor, which is equivalent to the office of president at a U.S. institution, French will be responsible for hiring faculty members and recruiting students at the American University of Sharjah.

The university opened in the fall of 1997 with a few hundred students, but the coed institution plans to grow to about 4,000 students.

It will offer 18 majors in four schools: arts and sciences, business and management, architecture and applied arts, and engineering and technology.

-Becky Neilson