Professor Emeritus of English Language and Literature at the  Faculty of Foreign Languages, Albert J. Butros earned his B.A. Honours degree in English from the University of London, UK, in 1958; an ad eundem B.A. from the University of Exeter, UK, in 1958; and a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University, New York, USA, in 1963.

 

While working on his Ph.D. dissertation, Prof. Butros taught at the Bronx Campus of Hunter College of the City University of New York and at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

 

Immediately upon earning his Ph.D. in 1963, Prof. Butros joined the newly-created University of Jordan and established the Department of English Language and Literature, which he chaired for twelve years.

In 1971, he spent a year as a Visiting Professor at Ohio Wesleyan University, then in 1973 was appointed the first Dean of Research and Graduate Studies at UJ. During his tenure as Dean, he was appointed to the Royal Commission tasked with establishing Yarmouk University.

 

He was appointed Director-General/President of the Royal Scientific Society in 1976. Prof. Butros remained President for eight years until he was appointed Special Advisor to HRH Prince El-Hassan bin Talal of Jordan.

 

Soon after his return to UJ, Prof. Butros was made Ambassador to the United Kingdom and non-resident Ambassador to Ireland as well as to Iceland. He returned to the University of Jordan in 1991. Upon his retirement in 2004 he was named Professor Emeritus.

 

He spent a year in Canada as Senior Research Fellow at the International Development Research Centre, then served on the Centre’s Board of Governors for twelve years. He has been a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science since 1986.

 

He has served on the editorial boards of seven research journals, in addition to founding and chairing the first editorial board of the UJ’s research journal, Dirasat. He has been on several prize selection committees on translation and research. He also served as a referee on faculty promotions at nine Arab universities.

 

Professor Butros has taught a wide range of mostly graduate courses, including the History of the English Language, Chaucer, lexicology, lexicography, and several translation courses from Arabic into English in the fields of politics, diplomacy, economics, administration, domestic and international law, and the mass media. His research has ranged from an investigation of English, French, Italian and Turkish loanwords in the Arabic of Palestine and Jordan to the translatability of Chaucer into Arabic, the development of the English dictionary and the influence of non-native writers of English fiction on the English language.

 

Professor Butros is listed in a number of biographical publications, including Who’s Who, Who’s Who in the World, The International Who’s Who, and The International Year Book and Statesmen’s Who’s Who.

 

His five published books include two school readers as well as a book (in Arabic) introducing the renowned 14th century English author Geoffrey Chaucer to the Arab reader entitled Geoffrey Chaucer: Introduction and Selected Translations (Arab Institute for Research and Publishing, 2009), in addition to several translated excerpts. He has also published many research papers in his areas of interest.  Moreover, he has supervised a wide range of M.A. and Ph.D. theses.

 

His major translated works include the translation of Suleiman Mousa's book on T.E. Lawrence from Arabic into English,  entitled T.E. Lawrence: An Arab View (Oxford University Press, 1966) and the Arabic translation of Glenville Downey's Antioch in the Age of Theodosius the Great ( University of Oklahoma Press, 1962).

 

Prof. Butros is the recipient of many honours, including the Jordan Istiqlal Order, First Class, in 1987, and the Italian Order of Merit, Grande Ufficiale, in 1983. Prof. Butros was made Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in Great Britain in 1991.

 

Prof. Butros' advice to young scholars or aspiring students contemplating a career in academia is to concentrate on the production of original knowledge through research.