Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Albert Jamil Boutros (born March 25,
1934 - died August 31, 2021) was a retired Jordanian academic and ambassador.
Albert has been a professor of English literature at the University of Jordan
since the sixties of the last century, and he is also the founder of the
Department of English Language and Literature at the university, which he
founded in 1963. Albert assumed the presidency of the Royal Scientific Society
for eight years from 1976-1984, and he was the ambassador of Jordan to the
United Kingdom between the years 1987-1991. In addition to his political and
diplomatic work, Albert held the position of Head of the Department of English
Language and Literature at the University of Jordan. He also held the deanship
of several colleges at the university, including the College of Arts, the College
of Research, and the College of Graduate Studies. In 2004, he was honored with
the title of Honorary Professor by the department.
Albert was famous in the field of
literature and translation, as he translated many writings of Middle English
literature and the literary works of Geoffrey Chaucer in particular, including:
The Duchess, House of Fame, Parliament of Birds, Boyce, Troilus and Cressida,
Biography of the Good Ladies, Annaleda and Oreste, Treatise on the Astrolabe
and The Canterbury Tales. He focused on his book on the Canterbury Tales
because of its clear influence on the arts of European literature.
personal life
Albert was born into a Roman
Catholic family in Jerusalem in 1934. Dr. married Ida Maria (Cassie) Albina,
and his wife died in 2018. Ida had four children. Albert has eight
grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Professional life
During his career, Boutros visited
universities and research centers in: Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia,
Kuwait, Sudan, Morocco, Algeria, Qatar, Turkey, Britain, France, Germany,
Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Soviet Union, and the United States.
Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Australia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan, Malaysia,
Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Iceland.
Albert taught primary and secondary
school English and mathematics in two private schools in Amman from 1950 to
1955, and from 1955 to 1958 Albert was awarded a British Council Scholarship to
England by the Jordanian Ministry of Education. Albert then worked at the
Teachers College in Amman, where he taught in the field of English language
studies from 1958 to 1960, and from 1960 to 1963, he received a Smith Mundt
Scholarship from the Jordanian Ministry of Education in the United States.
his academic work
Albert began teaching at
universities from 1961, lecturing in English Studies at Hunter College, City
University of New York, and from 1962 to 1963, he taught English at Miami
University in Oxford, Ohio.
In 1963, he was appointed as a
teacher at the University of Jordan. From 1963 to 1965, Albert held the rank of
Assistant Professor in the Department of English, and from 1965 he became an
Associate Professor until 1967. He headed the Department of English Language
and Literature at the University of Jordan from 1964 to 1967. He obtained the
rank of Professor in 1967 from Department of English until 1979. Served as
chair of the Department of English Language and Literature again from 1974 to
1976. From July 19 to September 2, 1969, he was awarded the Leaders Scholarship
to the United States. From 1971 to 1972, he was Visiting Professor of English
at Wesleyan University in Ohio, and from February 26, 1973 to June 12, 1976, he
was Dean of the School of Research and Graduate Studies at the University of
Jordan. Between 1995 and 1996, he was a visiting professor of English at the
Center for Women's Studies at the University of Jordan.
his political work
He served as Director
General/President of the Royal Scientific Society in Oman from 1976 to 1984,
and was Special Adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah II between 1984 and 1985. From
1987 to 1991 he was Ambassador to London with simultaneous non-resident
diplomatic accreditation 1988 in Dublin (Ireland), and 1990 in Reykjavík
(Iceland).
Achievements and Awards
Awards
Italy 1983: ITA OMRI 2001 Cav
BAR.svg Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Italy.
Canada 1983-1984: Senior Research
Fellowship: International Development Research Center in Ottawa, Canada.
1986: Fellow of the International
Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Jordan 1987: Order of Independence
Jordan.svg Order of Independence, First Class, Jordan.
United Kingdom 1991: Knight of the
Eye Hospital, United Kingdom.
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