MIT, Columbia, and the University of Miami appointed new Beirut-born deans for their schools of architecture. They are all Lebanese architects who have excelled in their fields, with stellar careers that redefine architecture and urbanism around the world.

1. Hashim Sarkis for MIT's School of Architecture and Planning

A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, Hashim Sarkis is an award-winning architect with studios based in Beirut and Cambridge. Since receiving his Masters and Ph.D. in Architecture from Harvard University, Sarkis has worked on and written about significant urban projects, some of which are located in Lebanon.

2. Amale Andraos for Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture

After living in Saudi Arabia, France, Lebanon, and the Netherlands, Amale Andraos graduated from McGill University and received her Masters in Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design. Andraos taught at Princeton, UPenn, AUB, and Harvard, before finally becoming Dean of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture. In 2013, the author established WORKac with her husband Dan Wood, which is based in New York and boasts impressive projects.

3. Rodolphe el-Khoury for University of Miami's School of Architecture

With 26 years of experience in the field, Rodolphe el-Khoury is a prominent architect with teaching positions at Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Columbia, University of Hong Kong, and University of Toronto. His partnership in the award-winning firm Khoury Levit Fong (KLF) led him to complete landmarks like Beirut's Martyr's Square and the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art.