Faculty Profile: Wassim Dbouk

Professor Wassim Dbouk

New to the School of Business is Wassim Dbouk, newly appointed professor of finance. He recently returned to Lebanon after earning his education abroad, preferring the warm family life of his homeland to what he called the "cold" West.

Dbouk earned his degree in finance at AUB in 1991, and before heading abroad for his master's and PhD, he spent six years in Lebanon working at Blom Bank. From 1997 to 1999, he attended McGill University in Canada, where he received his MBA in finance. He followed that with a PhD from Concordia University in Montreal, in 1997.

Soon after, Dbouk decided to return to Lebanon, because he longed for the family life that he missed during his stint abroad. He said that even student-professor relations are warmer here than they are abroad, saying that it is this passion and warmth that he felt was so lacking abroad. He said he chose to teach at AUB, since he knew it has the best education to offer.

Besides his love for mathematics, Dbouk is a skilled chess player. His interest in the game was first sparked during the Lebanese civil war, when he would watch his brothers play the game. He said his parents encouraged him to take up chess as a way to keep him safe from the violence raging in the country. Dbouk said he taught himself chess and says his love for math only helped him improve his playing skills.

His other passion is literature. Dbouk is an avid reader of Russian literature, admiring the works of Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy as well of Guy de Maupassant, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Other interests include watching old black and white movies of the 1940s and 1950s. Dbouk also loves sports, tennis, squash, and football.