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Deree College along with the Junior College and the Pierce College constitute the American College of Greece. Deree College is located the main college campus, situated in the northeastern Athenian suburb of Aghia Paraskevi. John Bailey has been the president of the institution since 1975. It has school accreditation from New England Association of Schools and Colleges.[1]

The American College of Greece was founded in 1875 in the city of Smyrna, Asia Minor, by American Christian missionaries. Initially an all-girls secondary school, it graduated to an institution of higher education in 1885. The College was shut down in 1922 during the massive flight of Greeks from Asia Minor following the victory of Turkish forces under Kemal Ataturk in the aftermath of World War I. In 1935 Eleftherios Venizelos, Prime Minister of the Greek Republic, invited the College to reopen in Athens. It did so in 1936 and survived the World War II Nazi occupation of the country.

The postwar modernization of the College occurred under the stewardship of Thanis G Alexander (1927-2003), a Greek-born naturalised American citizen with a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, who served as Vice President of the College from 1968 to 1976. An MBA program was established in conjunction with Northeastern University, strengthening the College's accreditation with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The Downtown Business Campus was opened at Ambelokipi (1971), and the College's scholarship program for gifted female students from Greek villages was greatly expanded. Concurrently, a major construction project at the Aghia Paraskevi campus resulted in a second lecturing and administration building and the upgrading of the ladies dormitory and cafeteria.

During the dictatorship of the junta from 1967 to 1974, yearly attempts by incoming Ministers of Education to nationalise the College were successfully resisted. The College survived as an independent entity.

Alexander, an avid sports fan, also inaugurated the College's basketball program, initially seeding American college-aged basketball players amongst Greek participants in the College's team. In 1972 he brought William Dukeshire, the coach of Northeastern University's basketball team from 1958 to 1971, to Athens to coach the College team. Dukeshire fell in love with Greece and later served as coach of the Greek national basketball team. The College's association with sports is evidenced by the fact that many U.S. Olympic teams, including the men's basketball team, trained at the College before and during the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Twice every year, the college hosts an open invitational Debating Tournament, in British Parliamentary format. There are five preliminary rounds, a break into semi-finals, and a final. Prizes are awarded for the winning team and the best speaker according to the quality points of the preliminary rounds.

The XXXI Invitational took place on the 7th to the 8th of April 2006. The winners of the tournament were 'Oxford A' which comprised of George Kanellos and Dimitrios Samouris. Dimitrios Samouris also was awarded as best speaker of the tournament.

The College hosted the European Universities Debating Championship in 1993 and the World Universities Debating Championship in 1998.

• Deree College, American College of Greece

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