Early life and education Oweiss received a
Bachelor of Commerce degree from
Alexandria University in Egypt, majoring in economics and political science, before moving to the United States to earn Masters and Ph.D. degrees in economics at the
University of Minnesota.
Career Oweiss joined the faculty of Georgetown University in 1967. While on leave from Georgetown, he was appointed to the cabinet of the Egyptian government as First Under-Secretary for Economic Affairs in 1977, and with rank of Ambassador, held the position of Chief of the Egyptian Economic Mission to the United States in New York. Oweiss authored over 50 scholarly publications, including several books. In a pioneering work on oil revenues, he introduced a term now widely used in global economics and business: "
petrodollars". The influential Oweiss Demand Curve was first presented at
Oxford University. He has been a prominent faculty member who shaped generations of Georgetown students in economics,
international affairs, and related fields, including US President
Bill Clinton (Class of 1968), who wrote the preface to Oweiss's memoir in 2011. His academic interests have focused on
international trade, especially
free trade, and the economics of the
Middle East. He has advocated for greater international cooperation and mutual understanding among countries. Oweiss is often noted by students for his humanistic, optimistic approach and his emphasis on maintaining values in the midst of scholarship and economic development. Oweiss was Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of Economics In a 2005 article by Egypt's
Al-Ahram Weekly, Oweiss stated that Egyptian expatriate scholars like himself "never let go of their ties with their home country." The article suggests this bond with his native Egypt was Oweiss's motivation for having "offered his services to the Egyptian government" to be "assigned by President
Anwar El-Sadat as chief of the Egyptian economic mission to the US in 1977." In the article, Oweiss goes on to state, "I have always been involved in Egyptian affairs... I have twice presided over the Egyptian American Scholars Association and have overseen several projects that aimed at technology and knowledge transfer back to Egypt."
Death Oweiss died in
Bethesda, Maryland on November 27, 2023, at the age of 92. ==Selected publications==