Samira Khatib Tuffaha was born in Al-Bireh, Palestine in 1936 during the British occupation. To serve the educational needs of her country, Samira became a school teacher immediately upon her own high school graduation. For the following eight years, she taught high school in Al-Bireh, then she taught at an elementary school for girls in Sinjil and Silwad, where she became the school principal at the age of 24. She emigrated to the United States in 1963.  

Samira believes that education is the most important vehicle for the empowerment of young women, and that they should have access to educational opportunities that were not available in Palestine when she came of age. It is in this spirit, and in partnership with Birzeit University in Palestine, that she has created  the Samira Khatib Tuffaha Endowed Scholarship. The endowment will help to ensure that financial hardship no longer prevents young women from pursuing higher education. The scholarship is awarded annually to young women based on financial need, fully funding the cost of their tuition, and prioritizes those who live in areas under threat of expulsion by the Israeli occupation.