Samiha Sidhom Peterson: Oscar and Gertrude Boe Overby Distinguished Professor of Sociology/Anthropology
Samiha Peterson was born in Luxor, Egypt. She grew up in Cairo and earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees from American University in Cairo. Professor Peterson joined the St. Olaf faculty in 1972 after earning her Ph.D. in sociology/anthropology from the University of Minnesota.
Since 1989 Peterson has served as a special adviser to three Egyptian ministers of education, and for the past two years she has been a distinguished visiting professor at and senior consultant to the American University in Cairo. She also has worked with the United Nations Council on Equality for Women and with UNICEF Egypt.
Peterson's professional interests include women and development, children's lives, international norms and their impact on social change, global interdependence and the role of technology for expediting change in the non-Western world. Her publications include the books The Liberation of Women: A Document in the History of Egyptian Feminism and The Two-Career Family: Issues and Alternatives and four more titles, plus more than 150 policy position papers and articles.
Samiha is currently the Interim Dean of the Graduate School of Education at the American University in Cairo.
