Ann Zwicker Kerr-Adams

Ann Zwicker Kerr-Adams, a native of Southern California, has spent more than 15 years living, studying and teaching in the Middle East. She currently works as the coordinator for visiting Fulbright scholars at the University of California, Los Angeles, and teaches students about U.S. interests in greater Middle East diplomacy and perceptions of U.S. foreign policy abroad.  

A lifelong supporter of education and tolerance, Kerr-Adams has worked with numerous institutions – domestically and internationally – that aim to cultivate peace and global understanding.  When she was a college student, she traveled to Lebanon to study abroad at the American University of Beirut. There, she met Malcolm Kerr, who she married in 1956 and with whom she had four children. In 1982, Malcolm accepted the role as president of the American University of Beirut.  He was assassinated outside his office on Jan. 18, 1984.

Following her husband's death, Kerr-Adams embarked on her own mission to foster understanding among diverse communities around the world. She has written articles on the Middle East and authored two books, "Come with Me from Lebanon: An American Family Odyssey" and "Middle East." Kerr-Adams served as a trustee of the American University in Beirut from 1984 to 2010 and has worked for decades as coordinator for the Fulbright Scholar Enrichment Program at UCLA, where she teaches courses that feature Fulbright Scholars as speakers. She is a founding member and past chair of the Leadership Council of the Churches for Middle East Peace and a former trustee of the American University of Kuwait.

A graduate of Occidental College, Kerr-Adams earned a Bachelor of Arts in education before completing a master's degree in applied linguistics from the American University of Cairo.

Kerr-Adams and her family have generously donated to a number of academic institutions. In 2017, she established the Kerr Family Centennial Scholars Endowment at UCLA to promote "international understanding and peace through education" by supporting students from the Middle East. Kerr-Adams also helped establish the Kerr Family Scholarship at the University of Arizona, an endowment dedicated to her late husband and their son, Steve – a University of Arizona alumnus, NBA champion and award-winning coach. The scholarship, intended to help support students of Middle Eastern background, is awarded to international students who have demonstrated excellence in their studies at the university.