AUIS is unique in all of Iraq. It is open to all ethnicities and creeds and provides educational opportunities for young Arabs, Kurds, and Turks to work together. They exchange classroom notes, play sports together, and interact in English.

Dr. Athanasios Moulakis has over forty years of experience in higher education and academia in Europe, the United States, and Asia. Dr. Moulakis joined the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani in September 2010.

Before joining AUIS, Dr. Moulakis served as Interim President and Professor of Government & International Relations at the American University of Afghanistan. Prior to moving to Asia, Dr. Moulakis was an Adjunct Scholar in South-East European Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C..  Between 2001 and 2005, he directed the Institute of Mediterranean Studies at the University of Italian Switzerland, Lugano.

Dr. Moulakis has also held teaching positions in political science, philosophy, and the humanities at University of Colorado, Boulder, the European University Institute, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Ruhr Universität, Germany.  Dr. Moulakis obtained a Ph.D. in Political Theory from Ruhr Universität, Germany in 1969. Dr. Moulakis speaks fluent English, German, French, Italian and Modern Greek.