During the Commencement Ceremony 2025, AUBG awarded Dr. Julia Watkins, AUBG President from 1993 to 2003, with the Distinguished Service Award. The recognition celebrates Dr. Watkins’ transformative leadership, deep commitment, and lasting contributions to the AUBG community.
“Dr. Watkins’ remarkable journey with AUBG began in 1993 as a six-month assignment that grew into a decade of transformative leadership,” said President Dr. Margee Ensign during the award presentation. “She helped turn AUBG’s promise into reality. She built a culture of excellence, service, and community. She helped make AUBG a home.”
Dr. Watkins guided the university through a critical phase of development, securing vital support from the U.S. government and the Open Society Foundation, leading the university’s initial NEASC accreditation, establishing student-focused traditions like the Honors Convocation, and overseeing the construction of AUBG’s first residence hall. But her legacy extends far beyond milestones. She took the stage to accept the award with humility and heartfelt reflection.
Dr. Watkins spoke about the challenges of AUBG’s early days and how through it all, hope remained her guiding principle.
“One day, early in my tenure as president of the American University in Bulgaria, I’d met with the faculty with updates on such things as funding (that was in short supply), the library (that didn’t exist), and the internet (that was run through a node in Vienna – at a dreadfully slow speed). One professor said to me, ‘you use the word HOPE too much.’ What? He was suggesting that I should be speaking with more certainty. He was right, I did use the word HOPE frequently.
But HOPE was all there was, nothing was certain in 1993 as Bulgaria transitioned from a totalitarian State to a democracy, a market economy, and reclaimed its pre-communist, vibrant civil society. Hope was the way I could express a vision for the future of this new university.
Often, as I reflect on this story, always thinking more about HOPE, I understand more fully the power of one word. And, Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation in the US, speaks about the HOPE, but captures its very essence in the Hard Work of HOPE.”
Dr. Watkins concluded by expressing her gratitude to all who shared in that vision—faculty, staff, donors, students, and friends of the university.
The award not only honored Dr. Watkins’ leadership but also served as a moment of collective reflection on AUBG’s journey—its growth from a hopeful idea into a thriving academic institution with global impact.
