Safa Zaki

Safa Zaki is a psychologist, cognitive scientist, 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.^[1] Prior to her work at Bowdoin, Zaki served as dean of faculty at Williams College.^[2]

Safa Zaki
16th President of Bowdoin College
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2023
Preceded by	Clayton Rose
Personal details
Born	Cairo, Egypt
Spouse	Huff Templeton
Children	2
Education	American University in Cairo (BA) Arizona State University (MA, PhD)

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 BA in psychology. She continued her education in the United States at Arizona State University, earning her master's degree and PhD in psychology.^[1]

Career

Prior to her appointment at Bowdoin, Zaki served on the faculty of Williams College for 22 years. She joined the Williams faculty in 2002 as an assistant professor of psychology. She was appointed the dean of faculty at Williams in 2020.^[3]

Zaki was elected President of Bowdoin College on March 9, 2023 and began her term on July 1, 2023.^[4] She was officially inaugurated on Saturday, October 14, 2023.^[5]

Personal life

In 1995, Zaki married Huff Templeton, a fellow graduate student at Arizona State.^[6]