Bayard Dodge was an Islamic scholar and former president of the American University in Beirut. He graduated from Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in 1909. Dodge succeeded his father-in-law, Howard Bliss, as president of the American University in Beirut, then known as the Syrian Protestant College, in 1923. He would serve as president until he retired in 1948; afterwards he taught at several universities. His son, David S. Dodge

David S. Dodge

David Stuart Dodge was the Vice-President for Administration , Acting President and President of the American University of Beirut .-Background:...

, would later serve the same role. Dodge wrote a comprehensive history of Al-Azhar Mosque

Al-Azhar Mosque

Al-Azhar Mosque is a mosque in Islamic Cairo in Egypt. Al-Mu‘izz li-Dīn Allāh of the Fatimid Caliphate commissioned its construction for the newly established capital city in 970. Its name is usually thought to allude to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, a revered figure in Islam...

in 1961, a work that remains among the most complete histories of one of the most well known mosques and universities in the Arab world.