Margee Ensign

Background

About Margee Ensign

Dr. Margee Ensign is the 10th President of the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG), which was founded in 1991 on the American liberal arts model. With students from 40+ countries, AUBG has become a beacon of hope, progress, and freedom of thought in Eastern Europe. Its Center for Information, Democracy and Citizenship (CIDC) has recently launched innovative programs in countering disinformation and investigative journalism. With a distinguished career as a university president across three continents, Dr. Ensign has led institutions in the U.S. at Dickinson College, in Africa at the American University of Nigeria, and the U.S. International University in Kenya. Under Dr. Ensign’s leadership, Dickinson became the first college to receive the Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization twice, and the college deepened its commitment to civic engagement by establishing the Center for Civic Learning & Action with a grant awarded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and during Covid established the Carlisle Action Network (CAN.) Dr. Ensign is a long-time advocate for connecting learning to community engagement. For eight years, she was the president of AUN, where she also established the Adamawa Peace Initiative (API). Working with AUN, this community-led organization successfully countered Boko Haram in Northeast Nigeria through youth empowerment, education, and humanitarian assistance for refugees. She also led the efforts to bring the kidnapped Chibok women to AUN. A widely published scholar, Dr. Ensign’s work focuses on international development and the Rwandan genocide. She has presented at the World Economic Forum, the Commonwealth Heads of State Meetings. She has testified before the U.S. Congress on global education and foreign assistance. Her writings have appeared in publications like The Washington Post, The Hill, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among others. She is now continuing her commitment to higher education and global leadership at AUBG.