He is the author and editor of several major books and many articles on the study of ancient Egypt and is probably best known for his historical work on the reign of Hatshepsut[2][3][4] and the Amarna period.
[5][6] His most recent monograph, Faces in Clay: Technique, Imagery, and Allusion in a Corpus of Ceramic Sculpture from Ancient Egypt (2002),[7] examines artisanal craftsmanship in light of material culture, iconography, and religious texts.
He and Betsy M. Bryan of The Johns Hopkins University have co-edited a series of volumes on the Theban area: Sacred Space and Sacred Function in Ancient Thebes (2007);[8] Perspectives on Ptolemaic Thebes (2011);[9] Creativity and Innovation in the Reign of Hatshepsut (2014)[10] with José Galán of the National Spanish Research Council, Madrid; and Mural Decoration in the Theban New Kingdom Necropolis (2023).
Born in Beirut to a family associated with Lebanon for many generations, Dorman is the great-great grandson of the founder of AUB, Reverend Daniel Bliss.
During his presidency, he led the university in a major expansion of its medical center, invigorated interdisciplinary research across the institution, initiated the university’s most ambitious fundraising campaign, championed the reinstatement of faculty tenure, greatly enhanced the level of financial assistance provided to students, and saw AUB's rankings rise from unranked status in the 500s of the QS World Rankings (2007) to 249 (2014).