Safa Zaki

Safa Zaki is an Egyptian-American psychologist and academic administrator serving as the 16th president of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. She is the first woman to lead Bowdoin since its founding in 1794. Prior to her work at Bowdoin, Zaki served as dean of faculty at Williams College.

Early life and education Zaki was born in 1968 in Cairo, Egypt and raised in Tanzania, Syria, Jordan, and Trinidad and Tobago. Zaki graduated from the American University in Cairo with a B.A. in psychology. She continued her education in the United States at Arizona State University, earning her master's degree and Ph.D. in psychology.

Zaki was elected President of Bowdoin College on March 9, 2023 and began her term on July 1, 2023. She was officially inaugurated on Saturday, October 14, 2023.

Personal life In 1995, Zaki married Huff Templeton, a fellow graduate student at Arizona State.