Samuel M. Jordan

Dr. Samuel Martin Jordan (1871 – 1952) was an American presbyterian missionary in Persia (Iran).

[1] After graduating first from Lafayette College and then from the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1898, he moved to Tehran and spent 43 years as a missionary in Iran.

Under his direction, the establishment that later took the name of Alborz High School was upgraded to the American College of Tehran and received a permanent charter from the Board of Regents of the State University of New York in 1932.

[citation needed] A statue of him, perhaps the only of a Westerner in Iran at the time, which is still on display in Amirkabir University, was dedicated in Alborz High School[citation needed].

[1] On 21 April 2005, Fariborz Maseeh and the Massiah Foundation pledged $2 million to create an interdisciplinary research center at UC Irvine named "The Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture" that will bring together scholars in Persian history, language, culture, art and literature.