Bold Steps

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From the President and Board Chair

American University is an institution on the move. We are a community of strivers and dreamers who think deeply, then act boldly. That’s simply the AU way.

In this report, you’ll find stories of AU movers, shakers, and changemakers. We couldn’t be more honored to lead our distinguished university through this next chapter. It’s onward and upward from here, Eagles.
Read the letter

Video contains no sound or narration. “Presidents came to AU with messages that challenged our thinking and affected the course of history. They charged us to make the whole world a better place and helped us lay the foundation of who we are as a community and educational institution.” - Sylvia M. Burwell and Marc N. Duber


"It is a great honor to be back at American University, which has prepared generations of young people for service in public life." Barack Obama, August 5, 2015

"We have to visualize our future as a truly multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious democracy. I'm convinced we can do it, but … all of you have to lead the way." Bill Clinton, September 9, 1997

"I am confident that the men and women who carry the honor of graduating from this institution will continue to give from their lives, from their talents, a high measure of public service and support." John Kennedy, June 10, 1963

"American University and I agree on this: that the waging of peace demands the best we have, the best young men and women that we can find." Dwight Eisenhower, June 9, 1957

"American University is yet young; but you have a great future-a great opportunity for initiative, for constructive thinking, for practical idealism, and for national service." Franklin Roosevelt, March 3, 1934