Sultan of Oman Endows Professorship at WM

By Amber Lester Kennedy Tuesday, October 25, 2011

William & Mary President Taylor Reveley walking with Her Excellency Dr. Rawiyah bint Saud al-Busaidiyah, Oman’s Minister of Higher Education, as they cross the Wren Yard. Photo by Stephen Salpukas/WM.

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s gift will establish a fully funded, endowed professorship in his name. The announcement comes after the college introduced a new multidisciplinary Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Program this fall.

Minister of Higher Education Her Excellency Rawiyah bint Saud al-Busaidiyah attended a special ceremony in the college’s Sir Christopher Wren Building, where she signed an agreement with William and Mary President Taylor Reveley. The Omani delegation also included Her Excellency Hunaina Sultan al-Mughairy, ambassador to the United States.

“This gift is simply marvelous,” Reveley said at the event. “Today, we celebrate the Sultan’s commitment to higher education and our mutual efforts to enhance and extend global cultural heritage for the benefit of all peoples. William and Mary is enormously grateful for the Sultan’s transformative generosity.”

The new professorship is the 16th Sultan Qaboos professorship established in the world; fellow Qaboos professors work at Leiden University in Holland, Peking University, Tokyo University, Oxford and Cambridge universities, Harvard University and Georgetown University.

“This professorship will make an enormous contribution to the college’s ongoing efforts to promote greater international knowledge and understanding,” said Stephen Hanson, vice provost for International Affairs and director of the Reves Center for International Studies.