Joseph E. Aoun, an internationally known scholar in linguistics, is the seventh president of Northeastern University. Since his presidency began in August 2006, he has charted an ambitious and distinctive course to advance Northeastern.

In July 2008, Princeton Review ranked Northeastern number one in the best career / job placement services category.

He has formed collaborative joint-degree programs with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts. He also launched the Stony Brook Initiative, a comprehensive University-neighborhood partnership for youth and community development. 

President Aoun serves on the boards of directors of the American Council on Education, Artists for Humanity, the Boston Private Industry Council, Boston World Partnerships, Jobs for Mass, and the New England Council.  He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable and Massachusetts Math & Science Initiative, and serves on the Leadership Council for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Collaborative and as cochair of the City to City Boston initiative.

President Aoun came to Northeastern from the University of Southern California’s College of Letters, Arts & Sciences—the largest school within the university, where he was the inaugural holder of the Anna H. Bing Dean’s Chair. He received his PhD in linguistics and philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981; his Diploma of Advanced Studies in General and Theoretical Linguistics from the University of Paris (France) VIII in 1977; and his Masters in Oriental Languages and Literature from Saint Joseph University (Beirut, Lebanon) in 1975.

In 2006 he was presented with the Chevalier de L’ordre des Palmes Academiques (Knight of the Order of the Academic Palms) from the French Government, and in May of 2007 Hebrew Union College –  Jewish Institute of Religion presented him the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa. President Aoun has published seven books and written more than 40 articles.