Bulletin - American University of Beirut

June 2010 I Vol.12, No.5
www.aub.edu.lb/~webbultn/
AUB
Bulletin
Don’t read it tomorrow!
AUB’s 141st annual
distribution of
degrees
Around 1,800 dressed in black academic gowns and wearing mortar boards
will march solemnly onto the Green Field at 6 pm on June 26, 2010 for the
main ceremony marking the 141 st Commencement Exercises at the American
University of Beirut.
President Peter Dorman will give the welcome address followed by a message
from the 2010 graduating class Vice-President of the University Student
Faculty Committee Elias Ghanem.
The keynote speaker this year is Walid Khalidi, renowned supporter of
Palestinian rights and identity and longtime senior research fellow at Harvard
University, who taught in AUB’s Department of Political Studies and Public
Administration between 1956 and 1982. Khalidi is one of the three recipients
of an honorary doctorate of humane letters in a ceremony to be held at the
Assembly Hall at noon on commencement day.
Paul Meers, in his last performance with the AUB choir before his retirement
at the end of June will perform a musical interlude, J. S. Bach’s “Dona
Nobis Pacem.”
Separate individual ceremonies for the presentation of degrees for all
1 AUB Bulletin June 2010
Continued next page
In this Issue:
AUB faculty members win Beirut
and Tripoli mayoralties; six alumni
seize municipal positions >7
“Beirut is turning into a concrete city--I plan to work on
creating more green areas, reducing pollution, regulating
the water supply, and reducing traffic jams” said Professor
Bilal Salim Hamad (BE ‘76) of the Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering in AUB’s Faculty of Engineering
and Architecture (FEA), acknowledging his capture of the
mayoralty of Lebanon’s capital city in the May 9, 2010
municipal elections.
AUB inaugurates first high-tech
automation lab in the region >16
Industrialists and engineering students now have access
to a high-tech automation laboratory that will allow them
to conduct research or receive training at AUB on complex
operational components of machines in the manufacturing
industry.
Students dig out innovative
solutions from household items
for this year’s IB >18
Coinciding with International Biodiversity Day was AUB’s
very own student poster exhibit on May 21, 2010, highlighting
ways that can both preserve biodiversity while finding
solutions to common problems.
Outdoors 2010: Amazing carnival
attracts scores of visitors >29
Families thronged to the AUB campus on Saturday May 21
and Sunday May 22 to take part in the vibrant circus and
carnival at this year’s Outdoors festivities.
AUB Bulletin June 2010 1

AUB announces this year’s honorary doctorate
recipients
Last year›s Commencement ceremony
faculties will be held in separate venues throughout the
AUB campus following the ceremony. Arts and Sciences and
Engineering graduates will remain on the Green Field and
receive their diplomas from Dean Patrick McGreevy and engineering
Dean Ibrahim Hajj.
Graduates in business administration will receive their
diplomas on the Green Oval from George Najjar, dean of the
Suliman S. Olayan School of Business; Faculty of Agricultural
and Food Sciences graduates will take their diplomas in the
agriculture parking area from Dean Naha Hwalla.
Dean Iman Nuwayhid will distribute diplomas to Faculty
of Health Sciences graduates in Issam Fares Hall, while both
the medical students and the nurses will receive their degrees
in the Assembly Hall from Mohamed Sayegh, Raja N.
Khuri Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and Director Huda
Abu-Saad Huijer of the Rafic Hariri School of Nursing.
Dourade Al Lahham Walid Khalidi Eric Rouleau
The American University of Beirut announced on May 28,
2010, the names of three Honorary Degree candidates who
will receive honorary doctorates of humane letters in a
ceremony in the Assembly Hall at noon on Commencement
Day, June 26, 2010.
Two of the honorands are active supporters of the
rights of the Palestinian people—Professor Walid Khalidi
and journalist Eric Rouleau; the other, Duraid Lahham, is a
much-loved Syrian actor, who performed in socially committed
drama as well as comedies.
When Professor Walid Khalidi resigned his teaching
post at Oxford University in 1956 in protest over the British
role in the invasion of Suez, he joined the Department of
Political Studies and Public Administration at AUB, where
he taught until 1982, when he joined Harvard University
as senior research fellow in the Center for Middle Eastern
studies, a position he held until his retirement in 1997.
Professor Khalidi continues to this day the unswerving support
for the Palestinian cause he has shown throughout a
more than sixty year career of lecturing, writing articles, and
editing and writing books. Through his scholarship,
activism, and role in developing such institutions as
the Institute for Palestine Studies, Khalidi has been
credited with helping restore Palestinian identity.
Eric Rouleau, a French journalist born in Egypt,
has been also author, diplomat, professor, and
political commentator, editorializing for the French
daily, Le Monde for more than three decades. Having
served as French ambassador to Libya, Tunisia, and
Turkey, Rouleau has focused much of his writing on the Arab
states in the Middle East and North Africa as well as on such
regional countries as Iran, Israel, Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus.
Known for his sharp criticism and realistic assessment of
United States policy in the Middle East, Rouleau wrote with
knowledge, depth, and authority in his many editorials, articles,
and books on the region.
Billed as the most famous actor in Syria since the
1960s and one of the most famous in the Arab world,
Duraid Lahham, in a team act with Nihad Qali, for years
dominated Syrian comedy on stage and television. Their humorous
performances soon earned them comparisons with
Laurel & Hardy. Later, teaming up with political playwright
Mohammad al-Maghout, Lahham moved away from pure
comedy to social criticism and what he called “nationalist
commentary.” Lahham combined his passion for the theater
with serious concern for the rights of children, and served
as Regional UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Childhood in
the Middle East and North Africa.
AUB Today is the official
news publication of the
American University of
Beirut, Lebanon. It is
published monthly by the
Office of Communications,
Ada Dodge Hall.
Telephone 01-353228 or
AUB extension: 2670/1;
Fax 01-363234; e mail:
information@aub.edu.lb.
Responsible Editor:
Antonios Francis
Deputy Editor:
Henry Matthews
Production Manager:
Randa Zaiter
Content Manager:
Dalia Najiya
Design:
Office of Communications
Copy Editors:
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Jean-Marie Cook, PhD
Patrick Galey
Jen-Lauren Ponig
Cindy Saleh
Staff Writers:
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Rima Cortbawi
Rima Fakhry
Dana Halawi
Lina Jbara
Imogen Kimber
Hiba Krisht
Photographers:
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Hasan Nisr
Nishan Simonian
Special thanks go to our
contributing writers:
Academic Computing
Center
Amal Muraywed
Brave Heart Fund
Cindy Saleh
Cynthia Myntti
Journalism Training Program
Nancy Zakhour
Nursing Students Society
Wellness Program
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can be accessed from
AUB’s homepage under
publications and under “A-Z
Index of Sites.”
AUB Master Plan short-listed for prestigious
Agha Khan Architecture Award
The American University of Beirut’s Campus Master Plan
has been short-listed by the Agha Khan Architecture Award
independent jury panel which will announce the final
award recipient in October 2010.
Established in 1977, the Agha Khan Architecture Award
is one of the most sought-after recognitions for architectural
and development projects.
The AUB project was one of 19 on the shortlist which
was announced on May 25.
The other nominees include projects which range from
a textile factory in Turkey to a school built on a bridge in
China, located in 16 Asian, African, and European countries
with Muslim communities.
The AUB master plan was developed to shape and
guide the development of the university’s century-old campus
over the next 20 years. It provides architectural, landscape
and urban design guidelines to serve the existing and
future needs of the University. It articulates an integrative
landscape plan that demonstrates a subtle use of topographical
conditions to enhance the existing landscaping.
The plan is committed to abiding by LEEDS guidelines and
certification in new buildings while prohibiting intrusion into
the forest-like middle campus, preserving it as a sanctuary
for indigenous plants and both native and migratory birds.
Continued
AUB Bulletin June 2010 3

University campus at a distance.
Moreover, the plan advocates social responsibility, which
forms an essential part of education at AUB: active civic
engagement, through seeking to form partnerships with
the immediate neighborhood to revitalize what was once a
vibrant and diverse intellectual urban space; yielding back
small portions of AUB land for public use and enjoyment;
and developing a campaign to create Lebanon’s first permanent
non-smoking ban, within the campus walls.
“The Agha Khan award is the most prestigious award
recognizing architectural excellence in our region, and it is
an achievement by itself to be short-listed from among an
impressive list of submissions,” said Samer Maamari, AUB’s
vice president for Facilities and Planning. “We should feel
great pride to see that the AUB Campus Master Plan has
been acknowledged to be in line with the Agha Khan’s ideology,
. . . by stimulating and responding to people’s cultural
and spiritual expectations.”
“The AUB Master Plan has been developed with a keen
sense of the unique topographical situation of our university
within the urban environment of Beirut and its historic
role in serving as a beacon for responsible citizenship,” said
Preserving ancient monuments
Among his numerous works, Medinet Habu IX, The
Eighteenth Dynasty Temple, Part I: The Inner Sanctuaries,
is closest to Egyptologist Peter Dorman’s heart, given
his abiding interest in the reign of Egypt’s female “king,”
Hatshepsut, said Provost Ahmad Dallal at a ceremony
on May 24, 2010 celebrating the 2009 publication of the
book edited by President Dorman and published by the
University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute.
Organized by the Department of History and
Archaeology and the Office of the Provost, the ceremony
marked the publication of the ninth volume of the University
of Chicago’s Epigraphic Survey, dealing with the work at the
AUB President Peter Dorman.” If a university education
produces tomorrow’s leaders, we believe that the best way
to achieve this goal is through example—to show what is
possible, through the academic, environmental, and social
realms.”
The review of projects and the selection of award
recipients is carried out by an independent and pluridisciplinary
jury that brings together specialists in such fields
as history, engineering, philosophy, architectural conservation,
and contemporary arts, as well as practicing architects,
landscape architects, and urban planners. Among the nine
2010 jury members are world-renowned specialists such as
French architect Jean Nouvel, Chinese landscape architect
Kongjian Yu, and Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor.
“The Award’s objective is to encourage architecture
that reflects the pluralism that has always characterized
Muslim communities. There are no fixed criteria for the type,
nature, location or cost of projects to be considered,” said
the Agha Khan Development Network website.
“The Award’s mandate is different from that of many
other architecture prizes: it selects projects—from innovative
mud and bamboo schools to state of the art “green”
buildings—that not only exhibit architectural excellence but
also improve the overall quality of life,” said a press release
posted on the AKDN website.
In October 2010, jurors will select the award recipients
and determine the apportionment of the 500,000 US
dollar prize fund. According to AKDN, since the success of
a winning project may be the product of a joint effort, the
jury apportions prizes among the chief contributors of each
project- architects, other design and construction professionals,
craftsmen, clients, and institutions.
The final award recipients will be announced at a ceremony
to be held at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha,
Qatar in October 2010.
huge temple precinct of Medinet Habu in Luxor. The new
volume is a “massive work,” said Samir Seikali, chairperson
of AUB’s Department of History and Archaeology, noting that
Dorman, officially “housed” in the department, might some
day teach courses in Egyptology.
Describing the book as a coffee table book, Dorman
quipped that at 10 kilos it should be given legs and become
an actual coffee table.
Before joining AUB in 2008, President Dorman directed
for nine years the University of Chicago’s Epigraphic Survey,
headquartered at Chicago House in Luxor. “Dorman has
had an extraordinarily varied career, assuming every kind of
Continued
job an Egyptologist could wish for,” said colleague Vivian
Davies, chief curator of the British Museum’s Department of
Ancient Egypt and the Sudan, noting Dorman’s service as
museum curator, full-time field director, university professor,
and university president.
The new volume, said Dorman, a highly competent
epigrapher himself, is the first in a series to be devoted to
Hatshepsut’s relatively diminutive edifice at Medinet Habu.
The “fabulous publication,” said Davies, makes it unnecessary
to go to the temple; the temple is in the book.
Dorman highlighted the historic connection between
AUB and Chicago House, whose first director, Harold Nelson,
was a history professor at AUB until hired away to Luxor
in 1924 by James Henry Breasted, founder of the Oriental
Institute at the University of Chicago.
Rather than conduct excavations, epigraphers document
and record long neglected standing monuments in
order to preserve their historical and religious inscriptions,
using a variety of recording techniques, the most demanding
of which is known internationally as the Chicago House
Method, in which artists trace in pencil any details they
can see, then draw over those lines in ink. Epigraphers
make subsequent collations on blueprint sections of the
drawings—an exacting technique yielding staggeringly accurate
results.
As time-consuming and expensive as the Chicago
House Method may be, it cannot be entirely replicated by a
computer, noted Dorman; its strength lies in the continuous
subjective judgment of numerous pairs of trained eyes.
The purpose of the Chicago House Method is to
publish records as accurately as possible, said Dorman.
Egyptian monuments were occasionally revised, with figures
changed for various religious or political reasons. In
her own temple at Medinet Habu, Hatshepsut’s images
were often completely erased and recarved as a table of
offerings—and once even as a gigantic lettuce, as Chicago
House discovered—as her public presentation as femaleking
was apparently proscribed after her death.
Accurate publication of damaged or changed monuments
can greatly illuminate the history of a period, said
Dorman. In fact, reconstructing what was originally present
on recarved or damaged monuments can be just as interesting
as recording the traces that exist now.
The new volume, a major reference work, has lavish color
plates. “It is important to show as much as we can of the
color preserved in the sanctuaries,” said Dorman. “Temples
will continue to disintegrate; hence, [we are committed] to
making a definite record before further deterioration.”
New Blended Learning teaching approach
enthusiastically received
AUB’s Academic Computing Center (ACC) recently completed
a pilot project in blended (or hybrid) learning, which
replaces a portion of the time spent in the classroom
with a carefully designed on-line learning environment.
Four professors from different faculties participated and
received training and guidance from ACC in the redesign
and delivery of their existing courses.
Audience members examine mammoth book.
Blended courses combine the advantages of traditional
instructor-student face-to-face contact with many other benefits.
Such courses encourage active and independent learning
by engaging students in activities that enhance their
ability to think critically. Students tend to interact more in
group work and other collaborative efforts that ultimately
strengthen individual performance. Professors and students
Continued
4 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 5

alike benefit from a more flexible schedule.
The four professors, May Massoud (FHS), Myrna
Doumit (HSON), Salma Talhouk (FAFS), and Thalia Arawi
(FM), all agreed the new methodology lived up to its promise.
Students actively engaged with course materials and
showed an improved grasp and understanding of course
content in response to on-line activities. In turn, the professors
found themselves challenged by their students
and pushed to provide more detailed explanations as the
rapport between them increased in ways they had seldom
before experienced in the classroom.
Professor May Massoud said redesigning her course allowed
exploration of new approaches to teaching. “Blended
learning not only meant digitizing the course material,
but also totally changing the way it is taught,” she said,
crediting blended learning for prompting a “higher level of
thinking” in her students.
They read
more, checked out
more library books,
followed up with
greater enthusiasm,
and studied harder.
But Massoud noted
a downside. The
time required to redesign
was lengthy,
and student email
response could be
overwhelming. Yet
Massoud said she
would offer blended
courses again.
“Blended learning is
the future,” she said.
Similarly, bioethicist Thalia Arawi found that even
though applying the blended technique was time-consuming,
she enjoyed the process. Her students gained increased flexibility
necessary for managing Emergency Room rotations.
Blended learning allowed students to remain up-to-date by
accessing Moodle wherever they were at any time. Arawi
and her students were also able to hold on-line discussions
with Professor Margaret Battin, a distinguished professor of
philosophy and internal medicine at the University of Utah.
Myrna Dumit felt blended learning promoted “a new
way of thinking and inquisitiveness” in students, while
making it much easier for instructors to identify student
weaknesses. Blended learning students read more and were
always well prepared for classes, both face-to-face and
on-line. She echoed the challenges faced by Massoud and
Arawi, but praised the presence of ACC to assist with any
difficulties.
Professor Salma Talhouk and co-instructor, Monika
Dr. Alan Aycock and the participants of the blended learning
Fabian spent long hours redesigning Talhouk’s course extensively,
but said the rewards were worth the effort. Not
only did student engagement increase, but reevaluating her
course, she became a better educator. When asked to evaluate
their experience, Talhouk’s students were overwhelmingly
positive, providing for the first time clear feedback on
what to keep and what to modify in the course.
In May 2009 an ACC workshop on blended course design
taught in blended format by Alan Aycock, professor of anthropology
at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a man
with over ten years of experience teaching blended courses,
had piqued the interest of the four faculty members. ACC director
Rosangela Silva noted it is crucial that AUB instructors
go through the center’s training program, Blended Course
Redesign, before attempting to teach in this format.
With the help of ACC, students in the blended courses
were given orientation
sessions
at the beginning
of the semester
to provide skills
required to succeed
in the new
environment. By
the end of the
fall semester,
57.3 percent of
the students said
they would prefer
taking a blended
course to a faceto-face
course.
One student said,
“It was a new experience
. . . I had the chance to acquire new knowledge and
learn new information [actively] on my own. . .”
ACC’s “blended team,” Rana Haddad, Rayane Fayed,
and Hossein Hamam, assisted the four faculty members
at every step of the way—from course redesign, to course
delivery, to evaluating student feedback, to updating the
courses based on student input. They have also compiled
documentation to serve as checklists and guidelines for
future blended courses at AUB. This paper trail is important
to ensure following the correct process when moving to a
blended format.
The four faculty members, Arawi, Doumit, Massoud,
and Talhouk will all participate in ACC’s May 2010 8th Faculty
Seminar on Teaching Technologies, where they will share
their thoughts on blended learning with the AUB community.
They will be joined by three instructors introducing blended
courses during the current semester: Zane Sinno (FAS), and
Sara Khaddaj and Khaled Joujou (FEA).
AUB faculty members Beirut and Tripoli
mayoralties; six alumni seize
municipal positions
“Beirut is turning into a concrete city-I plan to work on
creating more green areas, reducing pollution, regulating
the water supply, and reducing traffic jams” said Professor
Bilal Salim Hamad (BE ‘76) of the Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering in AUB’s Faculty of Engineering
and Architecture (FEA), acknowledging his capture of the
mayoralty of Lebanon’s capital city in the May 9, 2010
municipal elections.
In addition, to Mayor Hamad, six AUB alumni were elected
to the Beirut municipal council, all of them from architecture,
engineering, business, and political or public administration
disciplines: alumnus and former FEA Professor Nadim Nasri
Abou-Rizk (BA ‘81), Rashid Antoine Ashkar (BE ‘75, mechanical
engineering), Khalil Mohamad Choucair (BA ‘03, political
studies), Nadim Kozhaya Costa (BA ‘86, public administration),
George J. Khuri (BBA ‘82, business administration), and Fadi
Ali Shahrour (BE ‘88, civil engineering), giving AUB alumni
over 25 percent role in the Beirut city council.
In northern municipal voting AUB faculty member
Nader Ghazal, nominated to head the electoral list in efforts
to reach consensus among the city’s political groups, seized
the mayoralty of Tripoli in the May 30 elections. Ghazal
holds a PhD from the University of Cincinatti and lectures in
the Engineering Management Program.
Professor Hamad, looking forward to his task as mayor
of the country’s largest city, spoke of the great opportunity
granted him to serve Beirut
and “try to make a difference
in the way its affairs
are being run.” He declared,
“My administrative and multidisciplinary
engineering
experiences are ideal for this
position.”
Hamad wants to focus on
solving everyday problems.
Mayor Ghazal
His experience in various
engineering disciplines will
be invaluable in dealing with
problems of urban planning
such as infrastructure, traffic, Mayor Hamad
and parking. Even health issues
and water resources are engineering-related, he said.
As for infrastructure, Hamad wants to work on improving
roads, highways, parking areas, and ridding the walls of
advertisements. He spoke of coordinating between the traffic
police and the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation
to create a more efficient public transportation system, complete
with bus stops and timed schedules.
The three main goals of Hamad’s program involve
modernizing the administration, preserving the environment,
and boosting the infrastructure of Beirut.
He plans to fill all the vacant administrative positions
with experts and to introduce technology to reduce
paperwork and encourage citizen feedback.
According to Hamad, his AUB experience will help in
the new job. Hamad sees knowledge of how to deal with
the community and its institutions-both environmental and
social-as essential for a successful mayor. “By associating
myself with AUB for over 38 years, I have picked up the
most important values AUB upholds. AUB’s freedom of expression,
professionalism, value of teamwork, its integrity,
and its dedication to service-all have provided me with the
tools I need to succeed.”
His university research training in rigorously forming
hypotheses and testing them through experimentation will
also help, Hamad said, as such a rational approach inspires
clarity of thought. He also pointed to AUB’s transparency:
no decision is made outside agreed-upon standards and
regulations.
Fuad Ziyadeh joins international medical
oversight committee
AUB joined new initiatives for international assessment
of medical students with the appointment of Dr. Fuad N.
Ziyadeh as a member of the International Foundations
of Medicine (IFOM) Oversight Committee, announced on
March 15, 2010 by Dr. Donald E. Melnick, president of the
US-based National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME).
Dr. Ziyadeh, chair of the Department of Internal
Medicine at AUB, said he was truly honored to be selected
Continued
6 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 7

as a member of this important committee, as the only member
from outside North America and Europe. “This,” noted
Ziyadeh, “bodes well for AUB.”
Dr. Mohamed H. Sayegh, Raja N. Khuri Dean of the
Faculty of Medicine at AUB, congratulating Ziyadeh, said the
appointment makes AUB a key player in international medical
education.
The IFOM program is a newly-established collaborative
effort between the National Board of Medical Examiners, the
Foundation for the Advancement of International Medical
Education and Research, and universities outside North
America for developing internationally accepted means of
measuring knowledge expected of undergraduate medical
students.
The IFOM Oversight Committee will oversee test delivery,
scoring, and reporting in much the same way as the
NBME’s US Medical Licensing Exam is administered.
The committee is responsible for approving assessment
instruments and overseeing test development for medical
students enrolled in medical schools worldwide, introducing
program policies, and setting standards for minimally
acceptable and honors-level performance.
Medical students from the Faculty of Medicine at AUB
will be part of a pilot project enabling
them to sit for the IFOM
examination this year.
The IFOM Clinical Medicine
examination will soon become
operational, said Ziyadeh, and
the IFOM examination is currently
under development. The committee
consists of nine members—four
Dr. F. N. Ziyadeh
from the United States, four from Europe, and Ziyadeh, who
represents other regions of the world.
The first meeting of IFOM will take place in at the
headquarters of the NBME in Philadelphia in July 2010.
Establishing international standards for medical education
and overseeing the IFOM exam to be administered in medical
schools outside the United States will be the central issues
of discussion.
Ziyadeh, a member of the American Society for Clinical
Investigation and the American Association of Physicians,
formerly served as the physician-secretary of the American
Board of Internal Medicine-Nephrology for eight years (1995-
2002), and more recently (2006-09), as associate dean for
Academic Affairs in AUB’s Faculty of Medicine
Chemistry chairperson releases first
internationally-published book in the
department’s history
Book’s dust
jacket
Thermodynamics is like a frog; it never evolves, according
to AUB’s Chemistry Department chairperson.
But with his new book, Chemical Thermodynamics:
With Examples for Nonequilibrium Processes, Mazen Al-
Ghoul is hoping that will change.
The world’s view of thermodynamics–the study of energy
conversion between heat and mechanical work–has not
changed much in 200 years, according to Al-Ghoul.
“But this book has a new approach, a new philosophy,”
he told the AUB Bulletin.
Whereas other publications have studied thermodynamics
in ideal terms, Al-Ghoul’s research aimed at tackling
systems in nonequilibrium.
Everything on earth is in a state of nonequilibrium,
Al-Ghoul explained, as everything is exposed to the sun and
thus receives a constant input of energy.
“It’s easy to tackle ideal systems at equilibrium, but
when trying to make sense of irreversible, everyday phenomena
at nonequilibrium, difficulties arise,” he said. “This
book attempts to bridge the gap between the ideal and the
natural by approaching the problem in a different manner.”
Al-Ghoul’s book–the first ever to be published internationally
from AUB’s Chemistry Department–is based on a
function called calortropy, or heat evolution, which forms a
way to measure the entropy (or chaos) in nonequilibrium
phenomena. In this way, thermodynamics becomes applicable
to everyday situations.
Al-Ghoul has already begun teaching his students
about calortropy in his chemistry classes and dedicated his
book to future students of chemistry.
“We always had the students in mind when writing this
book. It is a joy to be able to introduce new material that
will later become applicable in the classroom,” he said.
Al-Ghoul paid tribute to his wife, Rana, and co-author
Byung Chan Eu, from McGill University, adding he was looking
Continued
forward to the book’s publication at the end of August.
“I’m extremely happy about this achievement, especially
because it is the culmination of five years of hard work. The
AUB graduate wins international
entrepreneur award
A Canadian software company, founded and headed by an
AUB graduate, has won an international entrepreneurial
competition.
Jad Hussein Yaghi, founder and chief executive officer
of Verold Inc., collected the prestigious TiEQuest business
prize, an annual venture organized by Canadian networking
group The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).
Verold Inc., an upstart company based in Toronto, is set
to receive $50,000 in cash and $31,000 in services by way
of reward. The award was announced on April 16, 2010.
Yaghi graduated from AUB in 1999 with a BE degree in
Computer and Communication Engineering before emigrating
to Canada where he received an MBA in 2007 from the
University of Toronto.
He worked as a consultant for Boston-based management
consultancy firm Monitor Group until the establishment
of Verold Inc. in 2009. The company produces powerful
software aimed at powering the next
generation of 3D computer content. In
Prize winner Jad Yaghi
also commercializes patented software.
“Our mission is to make it easy, quick and inexpensive
to create 3D content for media consumption; by both professionals
and amateurs, and in the long term, to provide them
with a means to create their own virtual and augmented
reality worlds and games,” Yaghi told a local newspaper
after collecting his award.
Yaghi’s father, Hussein Yaghi, was an associate professor
in the Department of Education at AUB from 1990
through 2005.
His company has received serious interest from
investors following its TiEQuest award. It is set to unveil
new software products to more than 4000 international
entrepreneurs in May during an exhibition in Silicon Valley,
California.
AUB student Najla Khatib grabs $11,000
leadership award
Najla Khatib, an AUB graduate student in public health,
picked up the annual AUB BCG Promising Leader Award, at
a ceremony held on campus on June 4, 2010.
The AUB BCG Promising Leader Award was created
last year by the American University of Beirut and Boston
Consulting Group (BCG) to help celebrate and develop future
leaders from AUB. The award also offers the recipient
the opportunity for a full-time job interview at BCG along
with an $11,000 cash prize.
BCG is the fastest-growing global management consulting
firm serving the Middle East and North Africa from
Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The award was presented to Khatib by Dean of Student
Affairs Maroun Kisirwani and Assistant Vice President of
Development Imad Baalbaki from AUB and Ziad El Baba
from BCG.
“Such awards offer students the motivation to apply
what they learn in the classroom to real-life situations, obstacles,
and challenges,” said Baalbaki.
“To stand out from among 200 applicants was no easy
last year especially was tedious and stressful, but now that
my book is being released, I can enjoy the fruits of my
labor,” he said.
feat,” said Baalbaki, referring to Khatib, “particularly since
the evaluation process was quite rigorous, requiring an interview,
essays, and solving a business case. . . But Najla’s
essay on leadership and empowerment, based on her own
experience in community work and awareness campaigns,
was excellent, and Najla certainly deserves this award.”
Kisirwani concurred, adding: “This award represents
an incentive for every ambitious student to achieve their
higher aspirations.”
Sven-Olaf Vathje, Partner & Managing Director at BCG
and leader of BCG’s Middle East Recruiting team, said: “We
are delighted to present this year’s award to Najla Khatib.
She stood out from a group of over 200 applicants, with
excellent credentials including outstanding leadership experience
and a mix of academic and non-academic activities.”
Vathje added: “At BCG we believe that good leaders
can come from a variety of backgrounds. This creates
unique team diversity and is one of the cornerstones of
BCG’s success. It is also why BCG has hired from many different
disciplines at AUB including engineering, business,
Continued
8 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 9

Baalbaki: "To stand out from among 200 applicants was no easy feat."
New Faculty Profiles
economics , and politics.”
“Attracting and retaining the best talent is a big
priority for BCG in the region,” Vathje added. “AUB
is a huge part of this endeavor and is our number
one recruiting pool in the region with around one in
ten of our consulting staff being AUB alumni.”
Student Najla Khatib said that the competition
itself was a valuable learning experience. “I learned
a lot throughout the process,” she said,” because
once I applied for the award, I felt responsible to
live up to much higher standards of leadership in
everything I did.”
Khatib also pointed out that the competition
offers students a valuable opportunity to connect
with a leading job recruiter, irrespective of whether
they win or not.
“Winning this award is an amazing honor. It
really changed me and opened up so many new
opportunities,” she said.
Darius Martin
A random course of fortuitous events led assistant professor
Darius Martin to AUB’s economics department, and he
is pleased with the move. “AUB is the best university in
the region, and I like Beirut, a charming city that has a
European feel; also its climate reminds me of California,”
said Martin.
A dedicated former runner, who completed two marathons
(New York 2003 and Lausanne 2005), Martin fills his
days with extracurricular activities. “I joined a chess club
at the Arab University and have taken up scuba diving;
recently I got my PADI [open water] license at the marina,”
said Martin, who also goes hiking and listens to Icelandic
transcendental music.
With a Persian mother, many years in the Hague, and a
two-year work experience in Iceland, Martin enjoys enhancing
his multi-cultural exposure by attempting to learn new
languages. He speaks Persian and Dutch “poorly,” but in
Icelandic he can certainly “conduct daily business,” having
taught at both Reykjavik University and rural Iceland’s
Bifröst University. Now he is learning Arabic.
Martin first joined Syracuse University in New York as
a student of philosophy, but an elective macroeconomics
course soon changed his path. He “loved the precision” and
enjoyed the logic behind the study of economics so much
that he not only completed a BS
in the subject but also moved on
to earn a PhD from the University
of California.
A macroeconomist with
strong interests in inequality,
business cycle theory, and minimum
wage legislation, Martin is working on an analysis of
fluctuations in US labor supply in the short and long run.
The fact that the labor market responds differently to growth
in national income in the long-term than it does in the
short-term is a puzzle worth examining, explains Martin.
The young professor is currently teaching macroeconomics
to undergraduates, but in fall 2009-10, he also gave
a graduate course in financial economics. He is glad to deal
with “some really good and academically competitive AUB
students, who are strong in mathematics and comfortable
with calculus.” However, there is room for improvements in
some disciplinary issues such as “talking during lectures
and cheating,” according to Martin.
A persistent optimist, Martin argues that “technological
development is a much bigger force than resource depletion.”
In other words, Martin believes that future generations
would be better off despite the scarcity of resources.
Nadine Sahyoun
Dr. Fadi Maalouf
Having lived close to the sea in Alexandria and Boston,
Associate Professor Nadine Sahyoun is happy to live near
a body of water again. Missing the Middle-East, she loves
to come back every few years to “enjoy the food and the
Mediterranean air.” She is currently at AUB’s Department
of Nutrition and Food Science as a Fulbright Scholar on
sabbatical from the University of Maryland.
While working on her PhD in nutritional science at Tufts
University in 1991, Sahyoun took off for a year in Iraq as a
public health specialist, an experience she considers one of
the most fulfilling of her professional career. “It was highly
gratifying to feel that I contributed in establishing health
care relief programs all over the country,” she explained.
Although her bachelor’s degree was in biology from
the University of Massachusetts, Sahyoun was attracted to
the interactive science-based aspect of nutrition when she
took two courses on the subject at AUB while working as
lab technician and instructor at AUBMC between 1974 and
1977. In 1979 she obtained her MS in nutrition from the
University of Iowa.
At the University of Maryland, Sahyoun focuses on the
relationship between diet, genetics, and environmental risk
factors as well as their impact
on nutritional status and on
the development of chronic
disease and mortality.
This year her research
relates the dietary patterns
of older Lebanese people to their health status in order
to make recommendations and/or implement interventions.
She is also assessing the food security of segments of the
Lebanese population.
During the fall, Sahyoun gave several lectures to AUB
students, whom she finds “enthusiastic, energetic, and interactive.”
As well as mentoring a master’s student, Sahyoun
is currently leading a graduate seminar and co-teaching a
graduate course on community nutrition.
Sahyoun is married and has a twelve-year-old daughter.
She enjoys hiking, planting trees, and walking by the
sea. For her, Beirut is “wonderful for walking,” but she also
likes playing tennis and swimming. Indoors, she listens to
jazz and reads fiction and psychological thrillers, and is an
advocate of “moderation, balance, and variety.”
Combining academic work with the practice of child psychiatry
requires many interests and competencies, possessed
in large number by Assistant Professor Fadi Maalouf, who
is “doubly happy” about having joined the Department of
Psychiatry at AUBMC in September 2009. “It is good professionally
and important for my two children to connect with
their extended family here,” said Maalouf.
High-school fascination with the science of biology motivated
Maalouf to become a medical student, and interaction
with younger teenagers as a summer camp counselor and
later as a biology teacher while still a student himself, directed
Maalouf to specialize in psychiatry for that age-group.
“Adolescent years provide a great window of risk and
opportunity for intervention; teenagers have capabilities but
lag behind adults in cognitive controls over their brains.
Especially when struggling with belonging and identity and
in the absence of adequate family support, depressioninduced
behavior can lead to negative long-term consequences,”
explained Maalouf.
In addition to practicing, teaching, and supervising,
Maalouf is conducting research on brain functions of depressed
Lebanese adolescents, including those with suicidal
thoughts. He will be analyzing responses to currently available
treatment.
Noting US findings that “by
the end of adolescence, one-infive
[teens] will have experienced
a depressive incident,” Maalouf
mentioned being “struck by
the protective factors against suicidal attempts among
depressed teens in Lebanon: namely family support and
religious mindfulness.”
To unwind, Maalouf enjoys spending time with his family,
playing soccer with his son, and going on long road trips
to rediscover Lebanon. He listens to jazz and main-stream
music, and reads Amin Maalouf, but only on plane trips.
After receiving his MD from AUB in 2001 Maalouf did
his internship at AUBMC. He then completed a three-year
residency in psychiatry and a two-year fellowship in child
and adolescent psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr.
Maalouf then served the University of Pittsburgh as assistant
professor of psychiatry from 2007 to 2009 and has held
an adjunct appointment there since July 2009. He is the
recipient of several awards including a 2007 Outstanding
Resident Award from the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry and a 2009 Young Investigator grant
award from the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention.
10 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 11

AUB museum society marks 30 years of
promoting archaeology
Leading companies interview students at 15th
AUB Job Fair
Hard work of Executive Committee members recognized.
The friends of the AUB Museum marked 30 years of uninterrupted
archaeological and cultural activities during a ceremony
held on May 18, 2010 coinciding with International
Museum Day.
“We are proud to be pioneers in Lebanon and the
Middle East in many fields; we have organized archaeological
activities throughout the years of war,” said Nabil Nahas,
president of the Society of the Friends of the AUB Museum
to a large audience, including AUB President Peter Dorman,
a historian and archaeologist himself.
The society was founded in 1980 by archeologist Leila
Badre, the AUB Museum director and curator since 1975.
Founded in 1868, the AUB Museum is the third oldest museum
in the region.
The six former presidents of the society, namely, Huda
Khoury, Josette Kettaneh, Rima Shehadeh, May Richani, Samir
Thabet and Nora Jumblat, were honored at the ceremony.
Badre was also honored, with Nahas calling her “the
pillar of the museum.”
“Thanks to [Badre’s] discoveries in downtown Beirut,
Beirut is now a recognized Phoenician city, adding new
pages to the history of Beirut,” noted Nahas.
The hard work of Executive Committee members of
the Society was also recognized with medals as a token of
appreciation.
Nahas highlighted a number of “firsts” achieved by the
society over the past three decades: The society was the
first in Lebanon to present
archaeological exhibitions
on different themes. It was
the first to introduce a
comprehensive children’s
archaeological program,
and the first to launch
guided tours for children
with special needs.
These, together with
archaeological trips all over
the globe, have opened up
the world of archeology to
the Lebanese community.
Arda Ekmekji, Executive
Committee member of the
Society and dean of the
School of Arts and Sciences
at Haigazian University, recalled
the early days of the
museum, highlighting landmark eras.
The main achievements of the society in the last 30
years starting with the Founding Era (1980-82), included
an exhibition on Islamic Coins in 1982, and visits to China,
Jordan, and Palmyra. The Children’s Program organized a trip
to Byblos—an ideal study site for archeologists.
The Survival Era (1982-92) was “the worst era in the
history of modern AUB.” The museum was a “war victim”
between 1989 and 1991, and the College Hall explosion in
1991 left the AUB community shattered. That did not deter
the society from organizing events, noted Ekmekji.
During the Development Era (1992-98), the society prepared
for the renovation of the museum. The Expansion Era
(1998-2000) and the Consolidation Era (2000-03) both saw
increased fundraising activities. Trips to countries as diverse
as Vietnam and Ethiopia were organized. “The uniqueness
of the museum trips is that members could hear accounts
from the masters’ mouths,” said Ekmekji.
During the Golden Renovation Age (2006-09) the
new museum was inaugurated in June 2006 and President
Dorman spoke on the She-King Hatshepsut, as part of the
museum lecture series.
Nahas, who introduced the audio-guide into the museum,
has modernized the way museum tours are conducted,
merging the “Paleolithic with Rocket Science; while epic
narration [has been replaced] by ipods and ear phones,”
said Ekmekji.
Local, regional, and multinational
companies set up their stands
at the American University of
Beirut on May 13, 2010, with the
intention of recruiting this year’s
wave of graduates at the 15 th
annual Job Fair.
Cutting the tape to commence
the ceremony at noon
on the steps of West Hall was
organizer Maryam Ghandour
from the Career and Placement
Services in Student Affairs,
Maroun Kisirwani, Dean of
Student Affairs, and Provost
Ahmad Dallal, who thanked
companies for participating and
motivated students to take full
advantage of the fair.
He added: “The Job Fair generates not only employment
opportunities, but a surprising amount of revenues. . .
the largest portion [of which] goes to scholarships for needy
students.”
Dallal also thanked faculty members for preparing
students for this stage in their lives. “The presence of 146
recruiters demonstrates the high level of confidence in AUB
and in the quality and promise of its graduates,” he said.
“Every year success is on the rise with more companies
joining and more students attending,” said Kisirwani. The
latest economic crisis means some companies have stayed
away, but, many new ones have joined, Ghandour added.
Among the 146 companies (65 multinational, 49 regional
and 27 local) were household names such as Procter and
Gamble, L’Oreal, Nestle, HSBC, and many more.
The participating companies offer internships, graduate
programs, part-time placements and full-time jobs. During
the fair, 30 interviews will take place and 31 presentations
by firms will be given.
“If this year will be the same as last year, more than
200 students will pass through the fair, but by the end of
the year more than 500 students will have benefited [from
recruitment drives on campus] ,” said Ghandour.
The fair itself also offers career development opportunities
for the students involved in its organization, said
Ghandour. “Soft skills, leadership, communications, team
work, listening, organizational,” are the list of qualities the
students must have in order to work on the event, she
added.
Dallal cuts ribbon with Ghandour (left) and Kisirwani (right).
Clearly, students have a lot to gain from the fair, but
why do the companies come to AUB Hilary Jeens from
Standard Chartered Bank had a clear answer: “We know AUB
graduates are high performers. We go to the top universities
in the region and AUB is at the top of that list.”
A similar response from the Ernst & Young representative,
Nouhad Tahan: “[AUB students] work on extra-curricular
activities; presentation, communication. . . They are properly
polished.”
Many household names among 146 companies
12 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 13

Sawiris eradicates businesses can enhance
democracy and poverty
Samir Kassir Foundation President
Gisele Khoury
Capitalists go where
there is profit, and that
is not a crime; however,
multinationals have a responsibility
to improve
the living conditions of
ordinary people, said
Naguib Sawiris, Egyptian
business pioneer and
executive chairman
of Orascom Telecom
Holding, during a lecture
held at AUB on June 2,
2010.
Entitled, “The Role of Economic Legends in National
and Regional Politics in the Arab World,” the lecture was
organized by the Samir Kassir Foundation, as part of the
Beirut Spring Festival 2010, an annual ceremony sponsored
by the European Union. During the festival, awards are also
distributed to the best investigative reporter and the best
opinion writer from the Arab region, said Gisele Khoury,
president of the Samir Kassir Foundation. Kassir was a wellknown
Lebanese journalist who was targeted in a fatal car
bomb explosion five years ago.
“Being able to acquire cell phones has given people,
like the North Koreans, the biggest freedom they had ever
[had],” said Sawiris, referring to a trip to North Korea that
revealed to him the role of the private sector in human
development. In 2008, Sawiris launched the first mobile
operator in North Korea.
Sawiris spoke to a large AUB audience, which included
MP Atef Majdalani, MP Nuhad al-Mashnouq, Elias Tawq,
representative of the Lebanese Internal Security, Eddy
Abillamaa, representative of the Lebanese Forces, Egyptian
Ambassador Ahmad Bidawi, Culture Minister Tamam Salam,
as well as AUB faculty and students.
Sawiri highlighted the main obstacles to progress
in the Arab world, namely, poverty, political and religious
fanaticism, and lack of democracy and respect for human
rights. “We are lacking in democracy in the Arab East, and
business companies have a role to play in reviving the
democratic [spirit],” said Sawiris. Orascom Telecom Holding
has achieved some measure of democracy, said Sawiris, and
has indirectly contributed to economic growth.
Sawiris also noted that when his company makes a
profit, many stand to benefit. “I open up opportunities for
my employees, thereby enhancing profitability,” said Sawiris.
Moreover, by enhancing job benefits for employees, for instance,
OTH contributes to enhancing the economy.
Sawiris added that the areas he is most interested in
contributing to, are: poverty eradication, encouraging dialogue
of religions and cultures, and establishing a foundation
for the oppressed.
The Orascom Group is Egypt’s largest private-sector
employer.
Sawiris is currently executive chairman of Weather
Investments and chairman of the board of Wind
Telecommunicazioni SpA
in Italy. Sawiris’ vision
and the bold decisions
he has made have affirmed
OTH’s position on
the telecom world stage.
He started the company
by launching the first
mobile operator in Egypt,
Mobinil. Today, OTH operates
in 12 countries.
Tobacco consumption costs Lebanon more
than $55 million in losses to economy
Researchers at AUB released new, significant data estimating
that Lebanon loses more than $55 million annually due
to smoking-related health problems and the absence of a
comprehensive tobacco control policy, including smoking
bans in closed public spaces.
The data, which was the result of an in-depth study
by AUB researchers, was released for the first time ever to
a huge audience that included several MPs, representatives
Sawiri on main obstacles to Arab world
progress.
from several ministries and a throng of journalists. The
study was presented during a seminar hosted by the Issam
Fares Institute (IFI) for Public Policy and International Affairs
in collaboration with the AUB Tobacco Control Research
Group—a multi-disciplinary group of AUB researchers focused
on studying the effects of tobacco on health.
Entitled “How Much Does Smoking Cost Lebanon An
Estimation of the Economic Impacts of Tobacco Consumption,”
Continued
the seminar took place in College Hall’s Auditorium B1 on
May 4, 2010, and was attended by many, including Provost
Ahmad Dallal and MPs Tammam Slam, Atef Majdalani, and
Walid Al-Khoury, in addition to Mazen Soueid, an adviser for
former Premier Fuad Siniora.
Representatives of the Ministries of Economy, Health
and Finance and a representative from the International
Monetary Fund also attended the seminar.
With Lebanon having one of the highest smoking rates
in the world, and given the current political climate of stalling
and dilly-dallying when it comes to passing tobacco
control policies, this IFI-funded research paper, written by
AUB’s assistant professors Jad Chaaban and Nisreen Salti
as well as researcher Nadia Naamani, has given impetus for
informed decision-making.
Panelist Chaaban summarized the key findings of the
report, showing how current tobacco consumption patterns
lead to a loss of more than $55.4 million every year, excluding
the effects of nargileh smoking, passive smoking,
and other smoking-related diseases. Currently, more than
3,500 Lebanese die annually because of smoking-related
diseases.
In order to tally net revenues and total costs, researchers
took into consideration several stakeholders of the tobacco
sector. These included the 24,000 registered tobacco farmers
(of which 40 percent rely on other non-tobacco sources
of revenue) tobacco-market regulators, tobacco companies,
distributors, the government, and finally consumers.
The study found that local net revenues amount to
$271.3 million annually, while total costs-including direct
and indirect costs- are estimated at $326.7 million annually.
Farouk W. Agha Engineering
Excellence Award established
The American University of Beirut and its Faculty of
Engineering and Architecture have announced the establishment
of the Farouk W. Agha Engineering Excellence
Award. The award will be bestowed annually to a graduating
engineering student majoring in either mechanical or
civil engineering.
In establishing the award, Nahed Agha Salam lauded
her father Abdullatif, “who raised me meticulously,” and her
uncle, Farouk, who made it possible for her to earn a master’s
degree in computer engineering from Imperial College
in London. She went on to explain that both men shared
a deep appreciation for the important role that a university
education—especially at an institution of the “caliber of
AUB”—plays in the development of countries and in an individual’s
life as well. Nahed Salam also dedicated the award
to all civil and mechanical engineers including her sons: Hadi,
Left to right: Provost Ahmad Dallal, IFI Director Khouri, Dr. Rima Nakkash,
and Dr. Jad Chaaban.
Direct costs are due to smoking-related diseases, loss of
productivity or work inefficiency, and environmental degradation
through forest fires or street littering, for example.
Indirect costs are related to pre-mature mortality.
The seminar concluded with several policy recommendations:
higher taxes on tobacco products, bigger health
warnings on tobacco packs, smoking bans in public areas,
bans on tobacco advertising, tax incentives for smoke-free
restaurants, increased research and awareness on the subject,
providing financing facilities and cash to families in
rural areas, and giving no grace period for the new law.
The general mood of the room was all in favor of the
controls, and assistant professor and panelist Rima Nakkash
suggested additional future meetings with supporting
parliamentary members. Rania Baroud, the vice-president
of the Tobacco-Free Initiative, assured policy-makers their
popularity need not be in jeopardy should they pass any
tobacco control laws; in fact such a move may serve them
well because “sixty-five percent of Lebanese people are
non-smokers,” she said.
who graduated with
a BE in mechanical
engineering in 2006,
and Amir, who will
be graduating in June
2010 with a BE in civil
engineering.
From left to right: Walid Katergi, Nahed Agha
Salam, Dean Hajj, Hadi Salam, and Imad
Baalbaki.
Farouk Agha started his college education as an FEA
student at AUB. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to
continue his studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
After graduation, he moved to the Gulf region where he
founded a large contracting firm and an industrial group
there. He is one of the founders of the Center for Lebanese
Studies, which is associated with Oxford University in
London.
14 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 15

AUB inaugurates first
high-tech automation lab
in the region
Industrialists and engineering students now have access to a
high-tech automation laboratory that will allow them to conduct
research or receive training at AUB on complex operational
components of machines in the manufacturing industry.
The new OMRON Industrial Automation Lab, which is
located at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture (FEA) at
the American University of Beirut, was made possible through
a joined sponsorship by FEA, OMRON, and METACS.
It will be hosted at the faculty and will cater to students,
faculty members, and industrialists alike. The
lab will introduce students to the automation technology,
which is widespread in all modern factories,
thus enabling AUB’s engineering graduates to better
compete in the job market.
The leading Japanese OMRON Corporation builds operational
controllers and sensing and safety components
for machines in the manufacturing industry. METACS is its
official distributor in Lebanon.
The lab was inaugurated on May 26, 2010, under the
patronage of Industrialists’ Association President Nehmet
Frem, who said that such labs help retain bright minds in
the manufacturing industry instead of losing them to the
business or finance sectors which are proving attractive to
engineering graduates.
In his welcome
speech, FEA
Dean Ibrahim Hajj
Ribbon cutting ceremony
highlighted the importance
of partnerships between industries and academia,
noting that the lab will soon start offering training workshops
for members of the industrial sector and will also be
used by researchers to optimize industrial processes.
Emile Azar, METACS general manager, lauded the marriage
between academia’s reservoir of analytical thinkers
and technology suppliers’ practical expertise and technical
know-how, which will help produce better engineering graduates
and enhance standards in the manufacturing sector. He
added that the lab will be expanded in the future with new
products in order to cover additional industrial applications
and machines.
Shizuto Yukumoto, the CEO of OMRON-EUROPE, noted
that AUB’s new automation lab is the first one in the Arab
world to be supported by OMRON. Moreover, he announced
a new annual prize by OMRON to be given to “the best,
and most practical industrial automation project executed
by engineering students at AUB.”
The inauguration was attended by a host of Lebanese
industrialists and AUB faculty members in addition to a
number of top-level managers from OMRON, including Seigo
Kinugawa and Dogan Ugur.
Rem Koolhaas’s changing face of architecture
Architecture used to reflect
the values of society but
now it reflects the individual,
internationally-acclaimed
architect Rem Koolhaas told
an overspill audience at the
American University of Beirut
on May 17, 2010, highlighting
the changes that have taken
place in architecture during
modern times.
Architect Rem Koolhaas
“An architect,” Koolhaas
said, “[used to be] the one
who expresses the value of the public sector.”
Not anymore. An architect nowadays, said Koolhaas,
“doesn’t express values but aspirations.”
Award-winning architect and Harvard Professor Rem
Koolhaas, who is one of the cofounders of the Rotterdambased
Office for Metropolitan Architecture and the Architectuur
Metropolitaanse Officie was on a visit to Beirut at the invitation
of the Areen Architecture Series at the Department of
Architecture and Design at AUB. Held in Issam Fares Hall,
Koolhaas’s lecture was the first in the series of lectures
that will take place approximately bi-annually, bringing top
architects from around the world to AUB students.
Highlighting the changing trends in architecture,
Koolhaas said a new breed of architects has emerged: the
“Starchitect,” a term denoting celebrities in the field of architecture.
This new breed of architects could potentially
have a negative effect on architecture by encouraging overly
flamboyant work, according to Koolhaas.
No longer confined to one theme, buildings now
may contain what he referred to as many different
“bubbles,” a concept that Koolhaas says he uses in
his own designs, as is the case of the two libraries
in the Jussieu University Campus in Paris in 1992.
Koolhaas showed the audience a number of
images depicting trends and features that mostly
impacted architecture over the years. Notably, he
said, the elevator has greatly impacted both the
exterior and interior design of buildings.
One of Koolhaas’s and the OMA’s most famous
projects is the China Central Television Headquarters
building, a job he took instead of reconstructing
the World Trade Center—a controversial choice. In
keeping with his concept of public versus private in architectural
motivation he saw the CCTV building as a project
which provided the Chinese, for the first time, with a media
building that they can visit. Again a building of bubbles,
it contains many separate areas within one edifice. These
Ahmed Abdul Aziz Al Qatami Trading Room
opening celebrates a “visionary”
Room will simulate “a real trading environment”
The new e-trading room at the Suliman S. Olayan School of
Business was named after Ahmed Abdul Aziz Al Qatami, a
Kuwaiti businessman who also believed in women’s emancipation,
encouraging all his eight daughters to pursue
university degrees at the American University of Beirut and
elsewhere.
The dedication of the e-trading room took place on
Thursday, May 13, 2010, at 5:00 pm, at OSB, in the presence
of five of Al Qatami’s daughters who had studied at AUB.
Packed audience hits the floor for Koolhaas
“bubbles” house news, film, creative ideas, and other media
outlets. Koolhaas described it as “a political statement
which is not excessively big but unique in its ability” and a
“part of the symbolism of new China.”
“We felt that AUB is an appropriate place to honor our
father, especially since he encouraged education and work
for women,” said his eldest daughter Alya Al Qatami.
The e-trading room, which is connected to real-time
stock market news through Reuters, allows instructors and
students to track market indices and stock prices, as though
they were real brokers. . . without actually trading on the
market.
“Dedicated to education, dedicated to gender, dedicated
to equality, dedicated to opportunity,” OSB Dean George
Najjar described the late Ahmed Abdul Aziz Al Qatami in
his speech. “Literally hundreds and hundreds of students
will be thanking and honoring this great man,” said Najjar
referring to the students who will pass through the trading
room.
Assistant Vice President for Development Imad Baalbaki
called Al Qatami a “visionary of his time,” for his many
achievements and support of women’s education.
The only e-trading room at a Lebanese university, it
provides students with an unprecedented opportunity
to have “all the functionality of a trader,” explained Elie
Majdalani, who worked extensively in setting up the trading
room using his previous experience as a trader on Wall
Street. Describing the trading room as one that “simulates
a real trading environment but without any real impact,”
Majdalani says the room will give the students the chance
to practice working on the stock market.
16 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 17

Students sample NGO’s “civic message”.
West Hall area came alive in the first week of May as NGOs
and community engagement centers conducted donation
drives, bake sales, and a series of presentations for two
days, during the second AUB Volunteering Fair: For a Better
Community.
Held on May 4 and 5 to help civic service groups connect
with the AUB community, the annual volunteer fair was
hosted by the Center for Civic Engagement and Community
Service (CCECS). The fair allows a select number of NGOs
that have collaborated with CCECS and university community
partners to use this popular space on campus to spread
their civic message.
This year’s event gave participants the opportunity to
give half-hour presentations about their organizations followed
by Q&A sessions.
“We also invited two other universities with civic engagement/community
service activities/projects to the fair,
and the USJ (Saint Joseph University) and their Operation
7th Day (Operation 7ème Jour) took part. The idea was to
open venues for cooperation with other universities who
are doing the same thing,” said CCECS Director Mounir
Mabsout.
Outside West Hall where stands were set up, a violinist
played, infusing the area with a peaceful mood.
AUB Volunteering
Fair 2010: For a
Better Community
Passers-by could stop at stands for sweets or to pick
up leaflets and brochures containing information on civic
work. They could also learn the NGOs’ achievements, projects,
and future plans.
“The NGO directors were very happy to be given the opportunity
to inform students about themselves and to know
about the work of other NGOs, which they did through this
fair. They feel they have made contacts for further future
work,” said CCECS project coordinator Olga Majzoub.
NGOs were not the only parties impressed with the
fair; AUB centers too expressed their appreciation for the
event and its organization.
“The fair was very productive. . . providing community
service opportunities for medical students. The good fruits
of this fair are being harvested now: SCORP (Standing
Committee on Refugee Project) has established contact with
Special Olympics NGO and we are going to supply them
with medical students to help the doctors check up on the
participants in the Olympic games. The event will take place
in Saida this Sunday, May 16, and we are all excited about
it!” said National Officer on Human Rights and Peace for
AUB’s Lebanese Medical Students’ International Committee
Khairat Al-Habbal.
Concurrently with the fair, donation drives took place
during the week. Books were collected for free public libraries;
blankets, clothes and utensils as well as money were
collected for Roumieh prison; and money donations were
also made to buy malaria nets for African children.
Students dig out innovative solutions from
household items for this year’s IBDAA
Coinciding with International Biodiversity Day was AUB’s
very own student poster exhibit on May 21, 2010, highlighting
ways that can both preserve biodiversity while finding
solutions to common problems.
Bad smells, fungus, cigarette smoke could be completely
eradicated with household items such as cinnamon,
charcoal, and thyme. Similarly, hair collected
from beauty salons could serve to clean up an oil
spill, and the miswak plant could replace traditional
toothbrushes and toothpaste…
These are just a few examples of the dozens of projects
which more than 300 students from a variety of disciplines
took part in.
Dubbed IBDAA (Arabic for innovation and an acronym
for International Biodiversity Day at AUB), the poster exhibit
is an annual event that has been attracting bigger participation
and a bigger audience each year. Held this year between
West Hall and College Hall and organized by Ibsar, the
Continued
Teaching about nature and helping students appreciate its value.
Nature Conservation Center for Sustainable Futures at AUB,
the exhibition aimed to teach students about nature and
help them appreciate its value by learning “how to perceive
it, how to conserve it, and how to use it sustainably.”
Participants consisted of students from several science
and non-science courses, including chemistry, biology,
Technology in the Classroom
Those who experiment with technology in teaching “are all
pioneers,” Provost Ahmad Dallal told participants at the
Academic Computing Center’s Eighth Faculty Seminar on
Teaching and Learning with Technology. “You are leading
us,” he added, thanking all those going out of their way to
put knowledge of technology into teaching and learning. In
the future, he said, increased emphasis will be placed on
essential classroom technologies. “All universities,” Dallal
said, “are moving in this direction.”
Provost Dallal’s remarks came at the beginning of the
ACC seminar in College Hall on May 26, 2010. AUB is ready,
he insisted, to determine some mechanism for rewarding
technology users for the demanding work involved in inaugurating
technologies in the classroom.
ACC Director Rosangela Silva provided a timeline of the
center’s accomplishments since the last seminar in 2009: a
new web site with a virtual faculty lounge, a jump in course/
section use of Moodle (AUB’s learning management system)
from 3 to 70 percent, a Moodle server for individuals
outside the University (courses offered to National Bank of
Kuwait and Nissan Gulf), introduction of Lime Survey, a free,
user-friendly methodology for students, staff, and faculty to
create surveys on-line; a paper-saving campaign to decrease
unnecessary downloading and printing, and Mahara (expertise
in Arabic), an on-line personal portfolio to be available
at the end of summer.
Several AUB teachers from different disciplines described
their experiences with blended learning, a combination of
face to face (F2F) and on-line teaching: Faculty of Health
Sciences Professor May Massoud, Sara Khaddaj of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, the English Department’s
Zane Sinno, clinical bioethitist Thalia Arawi of the Faculty
environmental health and civil engineering, graphic design,
mythology, English, and ceramics. The artistic contributions
from the ceramics course showed some abstract representations
of environmental destruction. One work of art called
“Nature” consisted of three sculptures; one represented the
heart of nature with stitched-up scars indicating the damage
inflicted on earth by humans.
Other projects also included a microbiology study
carried out at the Jeita Grotto to show signs that the ecological
balance there has been upset. For instance, there
are already traces of E. coli in the caves, probably due to
sewage disposal, and phototrophic bacteria which would
not naturally be found in such a dark environment.
Other students found that adding zero valent iron to
drinking water could neutralize the effects of certain harmful
chemicals that might be present.
Dallal: Teaching with technology experimenters «are all pioneers.»
of Medicine, and Professor Salma Talhouk of Landscape
Design and Ecosystem Management. ACC’s Hossein Hamam
described the first 100 percent on-line course offered at AUB
in spring 2009-10 by engineering management Professor
Walid Nasrallah in conjunction with the ACC.
The teachers shared similar experiences and highlighted
advantages and disadvantages of blended learning
in courses in environmental health, engineering lab, English
for international business, medical ethics, and plant biology.
Almost all found flexibility in time constraints beneficial but
emphasized the enormous amount of time necessary for
vital course redesign. All praised the independence, selfconfidence,
and critical thinking generated in students.
One even suggested that the student produced in a
blended learning course resembles the ideal student described
in the University’s mission statement. Zane Sinno
said, “Blended learning enhances the venues and possibilities
for a collaborative learning environment both between
students and between teacher and student,” creating a
“‘work-in-progress’ atmosphere in and outside the classroom,
making the course more vibrant and the material more
interesting.”
18 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 19

Students display their pottery prowess
Muraywed and students
Budding potters were treated to a week-long ceramics
exhibition in Saifi Village, organized by AUB’s Department
of Fine Arts and Art History (FAAH).
The event, “Flourishing Talents in Ceramics at AUB,” ran
from May 4 to 10, 2010, at Saifi’s Piece Unique Gallery and
was organized by Amal Muraywed, ceramicist and senior
lecturer at FAAH. She said the display aimed at getting more
people interested in ceramic arts.
Muraywed, who has taught ceramics at AUB for more
than a decade, said the exhibition gave students a chance
to showcase their work to a wider audience.
“The importance of such an event is that the elective
student potters had the opportunity to exhibit their ceramics
in front of their parents, teachers, friends, art critics,
the press, and television interviewers, who were all very
impressed by the work and the display,” she said.
Muraywed has organized annual exhibitions since 2000
and said she hoped their continuation would help promote
the art scene throughout AUB’s campus and alumni, as well
as encouraging students to consider a career in ceramics as
a viable option.
“Teaching the art of clay in all its essential aspects,
such as the history of ceramics, basic techniques, design
and decoration and different firing ways is a rewarding
experience, especially in this part of the world where the
ceramics culture was embedded,” Murayyed said.
Some ceramics pieces from the exhibition were also
displayed at the annual IBDAA biodiversity fair, which took
place on campus on May 21, 2010.
JTP teaches parliamentary staffers media
skills
Sixteen staffers from various Lebanese parliamentary departments,
parties, and blocs sharpened their communications
skills at a workshop conducted by the Journalism
Training Program (JTP) and sponsored by the Westminster
Foundation for Democracy (WFD).
“We’d like other workshops on different topics because
this training was dynamic and more productive than previous
ones we’ve attended,” said Youssef El Hajj, the secretary
of a parliamentary committee.
Participants were immersed in the details of building
bridges with the media, dealing with deadlines, public affairs
priorities, writing news releases, setting up a digital
newsroom, and exploring the role of spokespeople and
media crisis management.
“In a brief period we learned a lot of new theoretical
and practical things, and we corrected some misconceptions
we had,” said Rita Nassour, an assistant to Free Patriotic
Movement MP Ibrahim Kanaan.
Other trainees from the Kataeb Party and Progressive
Socialist Party took turns learning interviewing techniques
and the art of organizing a news conference at the five-day
Saad Hattar shows Rita Nassour how to interview politicians.
mini-course held at Parliament’s library in April.
They were joined by staffers from Parliament’s IT department,
the library, and different administrative offices.
JTP director Magda Abu-Fadil joined forces with trainers
Rouba Kabbara, an Agence France-Presse veteran, and Saad
Hattar, a BBC correspondent dispatched by the Thomson-
Reuters Foundation, which is partnering with WFD for the
workshops in Lebanon.
The trainers also briefed the staffers on media ethics,
planted news stories, conflicts of interest, and their stakeholders’
visual identities.
Continued
The trainees staged mock news conferences, and Hattar
demonstrated the pitfalls of journalists’ tough questions
and ambush interviews.
“It was particularly beneficial to me as I am now more
insistent on transparency and accuracy in the dissemination
JTP promotes media cultural diversity at Rio
UN Alliance of Civilizations
Magda Abu-Fadil (far left) attending forum.
The media need coaching in cultural diversity to develop
sensitivity to differences in race, religion, and ethnic
backgrounds, Journalism Training Program Director Magda
Abu-Fadil told participants at the United Nations Alliance
of Civilizations Forum in Rio de Janeiro.
“We start with simple and easy to remember rules: accuracy,
fairness, balance, and never making assumptions
about people or things,” she said at a roundtable to launch
UNESCO’s World Report, “Investing in Cultural Diversity
and Intercultural Dialogue” (http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=35396&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_
SECTION=201.html), to which she was a contributor.
Abu-Fadil’s recommendations for promoting media
literacy programs were included in a chapter on communication
and cultural contents. UNESCO promoted the world
report at the May forum.
The journalistic rules to which Abu-Fadil referred depend
on a basic element the media often overlook—critical
thinking—which enables humans to discern, respect, and
accept cultural differences.
of news,” said Houtaf Dham, a reporter for Al Bina’ newspaper
and a member of the Syrian Socialist Party, adding
that she hoped the workshop would be held again for other
staffers.
It begins at home, where children pick up cues from
their parents’ behavior towards others; it is reinforced
at school, where some of those behavioral patterns are
manifested; and, increasingly, it has been influenced by the
media that play an all too pervasive role in people’s lives.
“Journalists must have the ability to ask questions and
understand answers in a second language. It’s imperative
that self-respecting journalists be fluent in two or more languages,”
Abu-Fadil said, adding that unless journalists learn
to decipher other people’s languages, cultures, backgrounds,
and problems, they could be misled, or misleading.
UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova invited Abu-
Fadil to be a keynote speaker at the event that grouped
Bokova, André Azoulay, president of the Ana Lindh Euro-
Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue Between Cultures,
University of Chicago Professor Manuela Carneiro de Cunha,
Benin’s envoy to UNESCO Olabiyi Balalola Joesph Yai, and
Prof. Homi Bhabha, head of Harvard University’s Humanist
Center.
The roundtable was one of several activities during
the Alliance of Civilizations Forum featuring Brazilian
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-Moon, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
former Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio, UNESCO
Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education and Qatari
First Lady, Sheikh Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, Arab
League Secretary General Amr Moussa, Saudi Foreign
Minister Saud Al Faisal, Argentinian President Cristina
Fernandez de Kirshner and Bolivian President Evo Morales.
Spring Poetry Festival blames materialism for
poetry’s predicament
Poetry today is in a state of crisis, as the quest for material
gain has overshadowed appreciation of nature, said Tarek
Nasereddine, vice president of the Lebanese Writers’ Union,
during a poetry festival held on campus on May 17, 2010.
“What is needed today is not just a campaign for
cleanliness. . . but also a campaign to cleanse our souls
and become more attuned to our surroundings,” said
Nasereddine.
The Lebanese Heritage Club at AUB organized the
poetry festival in collaboration with the Lebanese Writers
Union, which honored six AUB students who had won the
Literary Competition initiated by the union. The themes of
Continued
20 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 21

AUB Literary Competition winners honored.
love and attachment to one’s native land, particularly to
south Lebanon, were the central themes explored in the
various poems read by the winners. The poetry festival
came just one week before Lebanon celebrated Liberation
Day, on May 25, marking the liberation of south Lebanon
from Israeli occupation.
Rising poet Ali Badran, a second-year civil engineering
student at AUB and the youngest member in the history of
the Lebanese Writers Union, organized the contest.
Badran initially conceived of the idea for AUB students,
but plans to expand the competition to include students
from other universities in Lebanon. “Today, we are celebrating
the young talent at this great university,” noted Badran.
Union members have adopted AUB’s motto, “That they may
have life and have it more abundantly,” added Badran.
Badran already published his first book of poems in
October 2009, and has two other books in progress. His
future plans include publishing a collection of poems by
winners from various universities. “What is nice about this
event is that today’s winners as well as the audience are
a mosaic of people from different backgrounds,” noted
Badran. Education and cultural activities should unite students
and should be the main goal they strive for, added
Badran. “AUB provides the medium for students to achieve
that goal,” said Badran.
Nour Bitar introduced Nasereddine, describing him
as “one of Lebanon’s best-known poets,” founder of the
Union of Arabic-Speaking Literary Writers (‘Rabitat Abna’ al-
‘Arabiyya’), and an activist.
Nasreddine then recited a nationalistic poem, in which
he reminisced about the victims of Qana.
A number of
AUB students read
excerpts from their
poetry to a campus
audience which included
Youssef Abdel
Samad, president of
The New Pen League
in New York and a
large crowd of AUB
students.
Saudi Cultural Club celebrates Al Janadriyah
2 cultural day
Cultural Club celebrants admire camel.
The Saudi Cultural Club at AUB celebrated Saudi Cultural
Heritage Day, Al-Janadriyya 2, taking as themes the holy city
of Mecca as well as the camel, or “the ship of the desert.”
In a cultural evening, held on May 5, 2010, on AUB’s
Green Oval, decorated with divan-like seats and carpets,
Saudi Ambassador Ali Asseri, commended all students for
their efforts in organizing an event which links Saudis to
their cultural heritage. “What we witness tonight is such a
Young poet Badran.
unique chance to share Saudi culture with students of different
cultures at this unique university,” said Asseri, adding
that he hopes the event would lead to a cultural exchange
of ideas.
Saudi Cultural Attaché Ayman Maghrabi highlighted
the importance of engaging in dialogue with other cultures
in order to transfer the right image about the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia (KSA). “I stand today on fertile grounds,
namely the AUB, that has graduated many people from the
region. . . Tonight’s festival reflects genuine Arab customs,”
noted Maghrabi, adding that Saudis should make sure they
preserve their Saudi identity while opening up to other
cultures.
The adviser of the Saudi Cultural Club at AUB, Fawwaz
Tuqan, also congratulated club members for their efforts in
organizing a rich cultural event that brings different cultures
together. Club President Mohammed Madani highlighted the
importance of preserving the cultural heritage of Saudi Arabia.
“We hope, through this event, to familiarize our fellow students
with Saudi traditions and values,” noted Madani.
Continued
As the camel strolled right across the Green Oval, other
traditional Saudi items were on display, including Saudi coffee
pots, incense burners, an old Saudi musical instrumentthe
‘rababa’-which is used by nomads to sing-Bedouin
songs. “It is good to see the Saudi students wearing their
traditional dresses,” commented Asseri on the sidelines. “It
shows how proud they are of their native belonging,” he
added.
The cultural evening featured singing of traditional
Saudi and Egyptian songs, with oud accompaniment, in addition
to poetry reading by AUB students. Traditional Saudi
coffee and dates were served throughout the event.
AUB students help support education in
public schools
The majority of AUB students have had access to some
of the best education in the country, sparing them the
experience of the local public school system.
International College biology teacher Ghada Fehgali
has worked for over a decade to help improve standards
at public schools.
“Most schools are underfunded and lack the basic tools
of education, extracurricular activities, materials, or even
teachers,” explained Feghali, also president of the Women’s
Renaissance Group (WRG).
She added that schools do not even have the budget
to run after-school programs for students who are falling
behind in their studies, nor can teachers or administrators
afford to offer the extra help.
The problem became apparent over a decade ago
when the Education Ministry designed a new curriculum for
teaching math and sciences.
Only teachers in the private sector were offered rigorous
training to implement the new curriculum.
Once Feghali and fellow teachers donated time to
teaching public school teachers how to correctly apply the
new curriculum, they realized the dire state that public
schools are in: Teachers are not required to undergo training
beyond two years of college, funding is minimal, language
proficiency and training programs are poor.
Feghali explained that public schools still rely on rote
learning, placing emphasis on memorization and theory
rather than active skills learning and critical thinking.
Coupled with the lack of government funding, such
teaching methods produce students who memorize rather
than understand concepts and who are never taught critical
thinking, problem solving, or interpretative skills.
Feghali’s will and love for education led her to knock
on the door of Ras Beirut’s public schools supervisor to
Cultural exchange between Saudi and Lebanese students
is necessary, noted Madani. “Many of our classmates
do not know much about our country, our traditions and our
habits; they simply think of us as desert dwellers,” continued
Madani.
Exposing students to diverse cultures is part of AUB’s
mission. AUB has long been a hub for students from diverse
cultural, social, and economic backgrounds. It has always
encouraged dialogue and taught cultural tolerance.
“Saudis are desert people,” said Madani, “and we are
proud of it.” However, “Saudi Arabia has made significant
strides in the field of technology,” he added.
offer the volunteer services
of five IC teachers
who will guide the public
school staff on new methodologies
for teaching
math and science.
“The previous year, Students eager to help public schools
the school had a success
pass rate of 45 percent, but after we implemented our
program its success rate increased to 100 percent. Upon securing
the approval of the Ministry of Education, we began
offering programs to other schools,” added Feghali.
As a result, Feghali began a public school educational
program over fifteen years ago, which has evolved since
she joined efforts with AUB.
Now partnered with the Center for Civic Engagement
and Community Service (CCECS), the program has assembled
a pool of AUB volunteers from specific disciplines to
provide services for public schools across Beirut.
The collaborative will seek new students for volunteer
training at the end of every six-week tutoring cycle, entrusting
them with visiting assigned schools to provide basic
tutoring in specific fields such as foreign languages, math,
and sciences.
“I love the experience. The students I tutor love what
they are doing. They are very capable; they just have trouble
expressing their ideas and writing them down. I want to use
my knowledge to help these young students reach their
potential,” said business marketing alumna Reem Koleilat
at the Verdun Public School.
“CCECS has helped tremendously. Together we can
take this further and help make significant and sustainable
changes in Lebanon’s public school systems and, in the
future, in the training of teachers within universities across
Continued
22 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 23

the country,” said Feghali.
Feghali’s relationship with schools across the city has
enabled several low-income students to benefit from this
program, as well as the AUB volunteers who make the connection
happen.
“Public schools are very important, since this is where
most Lebanese receive their education. But the government
does not pay attention to these institutions,” said Wael Slika,
a second year civil engineering student, and current volunteer
tutor at the Zahiyya Kaddoura Public School in Caracas.
In the future Feghali hopes to broaden the services of
CEC students create new
designs to preserve the old
Interior design students unveiled ways of maintaining the
heritage of one of Bliss Street’s oldest buildings in an
Interior Design and Photography Exhibition on May 19 and
20, 2010 featuring six different projects.
One display, organized by the Continuing Education
Center (CEC) and held in AUB’s West Hall Common Room,
demonstrated proposals for renovating a very old churchowned
building next to the Roman Catholic Church and
close to the University’s main gate.
Five students presented ideas varying from swimming
pools to theaters.
“We don’t want to lose the history from the outside.
We are raising our voices to preserve the old homes,” said
Nada Jaber, a student from the CEC’s Interior Design extension
program.
Jaber said she wanted to see a “gut-rehab” of the
the program and include more schools as beneficiaries and
to change the curriculum in teacher training.
“If we can involve more universities—especially the
education department at the Lebanese University—the initiative
would spread throughout the country,” said Feghali.
From this experience Feghali and the Women’s
Renaissance Group were inclined to include youth in the
movement towards change. WRG is in the process of becoming
MMKN, to involve the youth in building a non-sectarian,
educated society, both in the rural areas and with women’s
development, she added.
church-owned building,
which would
mean a complete
overhaul inside, while
maintaining the frame of the house.
Two additional exhibitions, running simultaneously,
displayed Imad Kanaan’s images of shorelines in Byblos and
Beirut in “Water, transparency and reflection,” and Hania
Salhabi’s “Children at different ages.”
Hassan Diab, vice president for AUB’s Regional Extension
Programs, deemed the exhibits “very professional.”
Wafa Abu Daher, assistant director of the CEC, explained
that the exhibitions were examples of the 70 courses and
40 workshops the center offered. It currently has over 600
students working towards diplomas and certificates.
First international nursing and healthcare
informatics training course in region
The Rafic Hariri School of Nursing (HSON) at AUB, in collaboration
with the Euro-Mediterranean Medical Informatics
Association (EMMIT), the Johns Hopkins University
School of Nursing and Medicine, USA, the World Health
Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean
(WHO - EMRO), and the Ain Wa Zein Hospital (AWZ) of
Mount Lebanon, organized The First International Nursing
and Healthcare Informatics Training Course in Lebanon,
which took place from May 7 to 12, 2010.
This remarkable event which was spearheaded by HSON
Professor Sana Marini, chair of the organizing committee
and expert in the field of nursing and healthcare informatics
at HSON, was kicked off by an opening ceremony, which
took place at the Hicham Jaroudi Auditorium at HSON on
May 6 at 5:00 pm. Marini emphasized the role of informatics
in health care in her welcoming words and said that her
dream of holding such a conference at AUB has come true.
Among those attending were Health Minister Jawad
Khalifeh, representative of Prime Minister Saad El Hariri,
Professor Francesco Sicurello, the president of EMMIT; AUB
President Peter Dorman and Provost Ahmad Dallal; and
members of the AUB Board of Trustees.
“Informatics has transformed nursing and health care
at the policy, practice, and education levels and is here to
stay,” said Huda Abu Saad Huijer, director of the HSON, as
part of her welcoming speech. “AUB HSON is proud to be
Continued
Course participants
the host of this course, which is the first of its kind in the
region, and many more that will follow and as such will assume
a leading role in developing this important field further
for Lebanon and the region,” she added.
Sicurello said that EMMIT and its partners hope to introduce
and diffuse information technology in the region in an
appropriate way, and not just for the profit of doing business.
“Courses of this kind are important to teach people how to
use the available technology properly,” said Sicurello.
Dr. Patricia Abbott from Johns Hopkins spoke on behalf
of the Dean of the School of Nursing and Medicine, Professor
Martha Hill. “We know that information technology is fundamentally
changing the world, and us being here now is an
indication of more to come,” said Abbott. “With all the available
technology, we have all become next door neighbors,”
said Abbott.
Next to take the floor was Dr. Zouhair El Imad of Ain wa
Zein Hospital who highlighted the field visit to AWZ Hospital.
“We look forward to your comments and feedback about our
information system,” Al Imad told the audience.
“This workshop bears a special importance to me, be it
through its timing, target, or topics,” Dr. Alissar Radi of WHO
told the audience. Such a workshop is the first of its kind in
the Middle East; the target population is nurses, which is a
reflection of nurses as a cornerstone in healthcare, and the
topic, nursing informatics, is an ever growing field. “WHO’s
participation in this workshop is a show of commitment and
support to the nursing field,” concluded Radi.
According to President Dorman, the training course is “a
perfect example of how we can engage current and future health
practitioners in a two-way street of knowledge transfer.”
Finally, Dr. Khalifeh spoke of the Lebanese government’s
effort to upgrade its information technology. “We are not the
best, but we are building the blocks.” While Khalifeh said
that the government has made many improvements so far, he
added: “We need to progress more, and this needs the right
infrastructure and continuity of efforts.”
The ceremony ended with a buffet where participants,
trainers, speakers, and organizers were able to meet and
mingle.
The jam-packed six-day workshop will be filled with
lectures on topics such as informatics in nursing, use of
information technology, related legal and ethical issues,
selecting a healthcare information system and factors for
its success, health data exchange, technology and decision
making, simulation in nursing education, global e-health
and electronic communication, and even a professional site
visit to the AWZ Hospital.
The memory of Leila Iliya celebrated in new
faculty lounge inauguration
The Rafic Hariri School of Nursing (HSON) inaugurated
the Leila Iliya Faculty Lounge on Tuesday, May 11, 2010.
Dedicated to the memory of Leila Iliya, former president of
the Women’s Auxiliary, the lounge, complete with its own
balcony, is nestled next to the secretary’s office on the
third floor of the HSON. The new lounge was funded by the
generous gift of the Iliya family, including Leila Iliya’s husband,
Raja, former professor in the Faculty of Engineering
and Architecture at the AUB. Guests at the inauguration included
Dr. Mohamed H. Sayegh, Raja N. Khuri Dean of the
Faculty of Medicine, and Dr. Ghassan Hamadeh, associate
dean for Continuing Education at the Faculty of Medicine.
Huda Huijer, HSON director, celebrated Iliya’s memory
saying, “I am honored and delighted to dedicate the Faculty
Lounge to the late Mrs. Leila Iliya, who was a dear personal
friend and a staunch supporter of the School of Nursing
and its students. This generous gift of the Iliya family to
the School of Nursing in memory of Leila touches the hearts
and souls of all of us here. Knowing Leila, I am certain she
would have loved it,” she said.
Leila Iliya contributed to the growth of the Women’s
Auxiliary and supported a large number of social service
activities at AUBMC. She helped establish awards and scholarships
for nursing students, including the Leila Iliya Award.
One of the contributions that Iliya was most proud of was
providing a loan for a student who later became one of
many who cared for her during her long fight with cancer.
President Dorman spoke about Iliya’s contributions
to AUB, saying, “I know Leila by her reputation and story;
she has always been committed to the Women’s Auxiliary
Continued
24 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 25

and the School of
Nursing. This
wonderful group
gathered to honor
her today is among
the most fervent
supporters of her
Dorman applauds Raja Ilya.
contributions. It is
most fitting that her
memory be preserved here.”
Raja Iliya contributed a few words about his wife
Gala dinner earns funds
Guests during gala dinner.
In a VIP-studded event, the AUB Medical Center’s Brave
Heart Fund hosted its second annual gala dinner at the
Phoenicia Intercontinental Hotel on May 10. VIP invitees
included ambassadors, ministers, deputies, and many others,
bringing the total attendance to 650.
Organized by Ghada Abboud Blanco, the evening aimed
to raise funds to continue the work of saving children suffering
from Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) with the help of a
delicious dinner; music performed by Guy Manoukian on the
piano, DJ Caline Chidiac, and Band 10; and an auction of gift
boxes generously donated by celebrities and institutions.
The impressive list of donors included Reem Acra, Faten
Hamama, Marguerita Missoni, May Jumblatt, Fondation
Samir Kassir, Carlos Ghosn, Anna Molinari, Cynthia Sarkis
Perros, Christian Louboutin, and Sting. The gift boxes hid
mystery items with donation tags starting at $6,000.
The boxes contained gifts from the worlds of fashion,
business, and entertainment—priceless cinema memorabilia
from Faten Hamama, VIP Formula-One tickets from Carlos
Ghosn, red carpet access at the Cannes Film Festival from
Cynthia Sarkis-Perros, and a signed guitar given by Sting.
The Ousseimi Foundation donated a Smart car for auction.
The thrill of going home with a box of gifts was heightened
by the knowledge that all proceeds would go towards
saving a child’s life.
and his gift in her name to the School of Nursing. “We are
gathered here to celebrate a true friend,” he said, “Nothing
would please her more than to be a vital catalyst in the
progression of the Hariri School of Nursing.”
Nuhad Azoury, president of the Young Women’s Christian
Association (YWCA), capped off the inauguration, highlighting
Iliya’s role as president of the YWCA from 1994 to 1996. “Leila’s
energy and dedication, combined with a great sense of humor,
inspired and pressed us to work harder for the benefit of the
YWCA. She will be missed terribly but her legacy of community
spirit shall remain an inspiration to us all,” she said.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for us to see how
a community really does have the power to help make a
positive change. Our activities care for the heart, and our
existence relies on donations from the hearts of others,”
announced founding Brave Heart Fund member Joumana
Ghandour Atallah.
In our seventh year, “we are very proud of our achievements
so far in touching the lives of over 900 families,” said
founding Brave Heart Fund member Riham Kosta Serhan,
Among the speakers were AUB President Peter Dorman;
Dr. Mohammad Sayegh, vice president and Raja N. Khuri
Dean of Medical Affairs; and Dr. Fadi Bitar, Brave Heart
Fund founding member and director of the Children’s Heart
Center.
In Lebanon alone, more than 700 babies are diagnosed
with heart disease every year. About 400 of those cases
need some form of treatment for survival. Left untreated, 70
percent of these children may die. CHD remains a top killer
in the first year of life.
Since its establishment in 2003, the Brave Heart Fund
has seen enormous growth in the number of patients helped.
In 2009, the fund had enough money to cover 248 surgeries,
compared to 195 surgeries in 2008—a 25 percent increase
in treated cases in just one year.
This year’s awareness campaign slogan, “Don’t Save
Money, Save Lives,” and aims to raise awareness about the
devastating impact CHD can have on infants, children, teens,
and their families. The campaign hopes to rally greater support
from the community in order to increase education and
support services, collect research funding, and enhance the
quality of care for CHD patients.
Ninety-eight percent of children who receive proper
treatment for CHD can recover to lead normal, fulfilling,
and healthy lives. For a child born in today’s world with
CHD, there is no obstacle to receiving proper treatment in
Lebanon, other than lack of fund.
Continued
Gift keeps on giving
In a circle of generosity, the Women’s Auxiliary of the
American University of Beirut Medical Center regularly lends
its support to nurses—both students and professionals—
who carry on to provide medical services to Lebanon.
Celebrating the achievements of students and nurses
and those of the Women’s Auxiliary, or “Ladies in Pink” as
they are known, is the annual Toy Tea Party, held this year
on May 14, 2010, under the patronage of former minister
Leila El-Solh Hamade, in the gardens of Marquand House,
the AUB president’s residence.
Rafic Hariri School of Nursing Director Huda Huijer
thanked the Ladies in Pink for their annual support, represented
in scholarships to two nursing students and awards
to 10 others. The top registered nurse and best practical
nurse at the medical center are also given awards.
“We are very grateful for all your efforts,” said Huijer.
The high-profile guests attending the Toy Tea Party
included former Minister Karam Karam; Teresa Fontoura, the
Brazilian ambassador’s wife; Olga Boukin, the Russian ambassador’s
wife; AUB President Peter Dorman; Dr. Mohammed
Al Sayegh, vice president for Medical Affairs; in addition to
former minister El Solh Hamade, Lebanon’s first female minister
and the vice president
of the Alwaleed Bin Talal
Humanitarian Foundation.
Amal Najjar, president
of the Women’s Auxiliary,
gave a glowing thanks to
the former minister for
her support to both the
Women’s Auxiliary at AUBMC
[L-R] Dorman, Najjar, El-Solh
Hamade, and Sayegh
and to Lebanon as a whole.
Najjar quoted Mother Theresa: “We ourselves feel that what
we are doing is just a drop in the ocean.” She added: “The
volunteers always hope that their drop in the ocean will
translate into helping a greater number of needy patients
and to endorsing the nursing profession and providing assistance
and services to AUBMC.”
“Why do we call our party as such” asked Nadia
Alemddine, Women’s Auxiliary program chairperson. “We
usually come with a toy or donation in hand for a sick child
at the hospital, and we end the party by inviting the guests
to tea,” she said just before launching the musical treat for
the guests: Maria Mattar and Pierre Sammia gave impressive
selections from Puccini’s Carmen and Mozart’s Figaro
after which the guests enjoyed the generous buffet.
The Women’s Auxiliary, known as the Ladies in Pink
consists of a group of women volunteers established in 1950
to raise funds for needy patients, to support AUB Medical
Center in terms of volunteer service and other programs and
to help instil community awareness by holding lectures on
various cultural topics. The Women’s Auxiliary is composed
of four branches; the Coffee Shop, the Bargain Box, the Gift
Shop and the hospital volunteers. It currently consists of 70
volunteers.
Women’s League donates check for
scholarships
The Women’s League of the American University of Beirut
honored First Lady Wafaa Sleiman, who is also president
of the National Commission for Women in Lebanon, in recognition
of her role in “improving the status of women in
Lebanon and helping them secure their rights.”
Sleiman was given the league emblem during the
Annual Garden Party of the Women’s League, held in the
garden of Marquand House, residence of AUB’s president,
on June 7, 2010.
The party wrapped up a year of activities and service
to the AUB community with the donation of a $10,500 check
Women Auxiliary members posing with President Dorman, HE Solh, and
Dean Sayegh.
towards a scholarship fund
for students with special
needs at AUB.
Founded in 1919 by a
group of women including
current AUB President Peter
Dorman’s grandmother,
Mary Dale Dorman, the
league has been promoting
acquaintance among women
from various nationalities
Sleiman receiving league emblem
Continued
26 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 27

through their common interest in the welfare of Lebanon
and the Near East.
The league organizes a series of monthly cultural
events and trips to various parts of Lebanon, in order to
raise funds for an annual scholarship for students with special
needs at AUB.
This year’s garden party consisted of a musical flamenco
show, entitled ”From Sevilla to Beirut,” sponsored
by the Embassy of Spain in Lebanon. The show featured a
magnificent performance by Toni El Fenicio y Su Grupo, with
their Spanish guitar tunes and flamenco dances.
In addition to the first lady, a host of dignitaries attended
the event, including President Dorman and his
wife, Kathy, Provost Ahmad Dallal, Spanish Ambassador
Juan Carlos Gafo, Spanish First Counselor Luis Covarrubias
Prado, South Korean Ambassador Young-ha Lee, Liu
Zhiming, the Chinese Ambassador, Danish Ambassador Jan
Honoring members of
the President’s Club
Established in 1981, the President’s Club at AUB consists
of members who work tirelessly to improve the quality
of life for students at AUB by funding special projects
which might, without financial assistance, never get off
the ground.
At a reception in honor of the members of the
President’s Club in the Marquand House Garden on May
31, 2010, President Peter Dorman, welcoming the guests,
commended the achievements of the members during the
past academic year.
“I would like to acknowledge and extol the [goals] of
the club. which is dedicated to improving the quality of life
for AUB students,” said Dorman.
Several projects have recently been funded by the
President’s Club, notably, a basketball court in the Agriculture
Research and Education Center in the Beqa’a Valley, and the
smart classrooms in the Faculty of Health Sciences.
The President’s Club has also sponsored the “marvelous”
spring concert of the AUB choir, as well as the International
Sports Festival, a means of stimulating student participation
and highlighting the Hostler Student Center, noted Dorman.
The teams represented at the sports festival came from
regions as diverse as France and Dubai.
The first President’s Club international sports tournament
“is a unique sports event, which we hope would set
the tone for future events,” said Dorman.
Laila Baroody, president of the club, thanked the guests
for their support and urged them to continue to contribute
“to the welfare and betterment of the life of students on
campus.”
Top Christensen, German Ambassador Birgitta Siefker-Eberle,
Egyptian ambassador Ahmad Bidawi, General Consul of
Ecuador Karam Doumit, league members and friends.
League President Leila Ghantous thanked the distinguished
guests for having participated in the league’s
activities over the years and highlighted the role AUB has
historically played in maintaining standards of excellence.
“AUB has kept the course of knowledge progressing mightily,
thus allowing students to aspire to a higher education,”
said Ghantous.
Dorman commended the efforts of the league members
who are “committed to cultural exchange and civic service.”
The activities of the Women’s League have contributed to
the invigoration of life on and off campus, noted Dorman. It
is important to foster understanding with institutions outside
AUB’s walls, added Dorman.
Dorman extolling club dedicated to improving student life quality.
A yearly gala dinner is organized by the President’s
Club to raise funds, and the yearly reception at Marquand
House is intended to honor old and new members and
increase memberships. Club members invite potential members,
whose contributions can help start new projects or
support existing ones, according to club member Lamya
Osseiran.
Organized by the Administrative Board of the President’s
Club and the Office of Development at AUB, the reception
at Marquand House included a group of three oud players
who entertained the guests.
The funds raised through the generous contribution of
the President’s Club have also gone towards equipping the
dormitories at AUB with computers and supporting cultural
activities such as the filming of plays, and the AUB choir,
noted Salma Oueida, associate director of development at
AUB. The bench campaign, on the other hand, is a project
by the president’s club to raise funds.
Improving the quality of life for AUB students is the
primary mission of the President’s Club—a mission which
accords well with AUB’s motto, “That they may have life and
have it more abundantly.”
Continued
Remembering Helen Khal
Cesar Nammour praising Helen Khal
The vibrant personality of painter, art critic, and author
Helen Khal lived again in a memorial celebration held in
Assembly Hall on May 20, the first anniversary of her death
in 2009.
Throughout the memorial, images of the artist’s life
and work were shown on two large TV screens on either
side of the stage in Assembly Hall. The clips, taken from two
interviews with Future and NBN TV shortly before her death,
showed Khal painting, walking around her rooftop apartment
in Ain Mreisse, and giving her views on art, painting,
and the purpose of life to the interviewer.
Speakers revisited Khal’s extraordinary personality and
the wide range of her talents. Not only was she a gifted
and dedicated painter; she was also a writer with a singular
aptitude for choosing the right word, a gift which lent exceptional
vitality to her art criticism.
First speaker President
Peter Dorman, introduced
by mistress of ceremonies
Lina Michalani, recalled
Khal’s teaching at AUB from
1967 to 1976, and noted
two former students currently
among the faculty—
Leila Musfy of Architecture
and Design and painting
instructor Afaf Zurayk of
the Department of Fine Arts
Khal taught painting at AUB.
and Art History.
Other speakers included friends and colleagues: Laila
Baroody, president of AUB’s President’s Club; former student
Professor Leila Musfy of the Department of Architecture and
Design; Cesar Nammour, art collector and critic, and author
of an upcoming book on Khal’s art criticism; Jean-Marie
Cook, retired member of the English Department; and Vice
President Emeritus and painter Samir Tabet. Tarik al-Khal
spoke of his personal relationship with his mother.
Extolling Khal’s painting and writing, the speakers all
emphasized her extraordinary human warmth, her generosity
in friendship, and her enthusiasm for life.
Not only did Helen Khal teach painting for almost ten
years at AUB, but she also served in later years as copy
editor of AUBulletin Today and AUB’s alumni magazine Main
Gate.
The memorial for Khal was followed by a reception and
exhibition of some of her paintings at Agial Gallery.
Outdoors 2010: Amazing carnival attracts
scores of visitors
Families thronged to the AUB campus on Saturday May 21
and Sunday May 22 to take part in the vibrant circus and
carnival at this year’s Outdoors festivities.
Food, games, concerts, parades, and an assortment of
carnival shows made the AUB campus the place to be this
weekend. Rich in variety, food choices ranged from Chinese
noodles, to Saudi kabseh, to the usual carnival treats like
popcorn, hotdogs, and cotton candy. A number of
Food sponsorship was by seafood distributor Siblou,
but other eateries were also present:
Coffee, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Baskin Robbins.
Crepaway, Costa
One of the food booths that stood out was the one
hosted by MMKN, a new nongovernmental organization
that is part of the Civic Welfare League and promotes rural
woman development. Manning the booth was Ghada Feghali
who explained: “Women from rural villages bake these
cookies at home, and we sell them at Outdoors under the
supervision of the Nutrition Department.” The stand also
featured hand-stitched towels and embroidered items, also
worked at home by the rural women, and bearing the banner,
“From Our Hands.”
Meanwhile, a number of AUB student clubs hosted
carnival-style games at the Outdoors fair. These included
paintball, car races, arcade games, pinball, t-shirt painting,
Continued
28 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 29

Cool music at Outdoors
fortune telling, water-dunking, rock-climbing, and much more.
At one of the stands decked out with colorful flags, the
Saudi Club was hosting a Playstation 3 World Cup tournament.
Biology Sophomore Mishari Al Abdulwahed said, “We
brought the World Cup 2010 season early to AUB. Our aim is
to foster friendly competition and contribute to the carnival
atmosphere.”
At the Special Olympics stand, carnival-goers could
play games with people with special needs. “This
stand is a symbol of integration; people can come
and play with our special needs members and know
that [they] are essentially no different than they are.
We are all here and we are all equal,” said Joy Jamal
Eddine, an Education Sophomore.
“Ye Olde Tales” was an improvisation game featured
at the Toastmaster’s International stand. “At Toastmasters,
we specialize in practicing communication and leadership
skills. This fun game with five-question categories allows
the carnival-goers to practice their on-the-spot thinking.
It’s an introduction to the sorts of activities we practice at
Toasmaster’s to make us better speakers,” said Mohamad El
Chami, a Master’s student in Physiology.
President Peter Dorman and his wife, Kathy, were among
the carnival-goers this year. “I think Outdoors is wonderful
not only for the students, who are able to practice their
organizational skills and reflect their creativity, but also for
the community, because it is an opportunity to bring families
onto campus, making AUB an active part of Ras Beirut,” said
President Dorman.
A motley group of clowns, unicycle riders, and jugglers
roamed the Outdoors grounds.
Abed Salam, a third-year electrical and computer engineering
major, was dressed in full clown regalia while he
went about his job as safety officer. “We want to make sure
Outdoors goes off without a hitch, so we dress up as clowns
to blend in while taking care of safety,” he said.
As usual, a medley of bands wowed the crowds at
Outdoors this year. Some of the featured bands included
Pulse, The AUB House Band, Extorted, Bringing it Back,
Payphone Rendezvous, Tim Hassal and the August Company,
Neverland, Fawzi and the Band, and many more. “I really
liked the band turn-out this year,” said English Literature
Junior Lama El-Kallassi. “I think it’s great that AUB is helping
to encourage young artists in Lebanon.”
Outdoors 2010 included a series of carnival-style shows,
featuring puppets, magicians, and clowns in the Kid’s Area,
as well as jugglers, acrobats, unicycles, and parades in the
West Hall area. One of the jugglers, Mohamad Aziz, had
come with the circus group Cirquna Falasteen. “We are a
Palestinian circus team that came into being to help bring
smiles to the children in Palestinian refugee camps all over
Lebanon,” he said. “Today, we’re at AUB to spread that same
sort of joy to the children here at Outdoors,” he said.
AUB Honey Day strives to preserve greener
Albert Einstein once said, “If the bee disappeared off
the surface of the globe, then man would only have four
years of life left.”
This prophecy was the driver behind the motto of AUB’s
Annual Honey Day, “Bee Not Mean, Let’s Go Green!” Held on
May 26, 2010, on the lower campus and hosted by Professor
Rami Ollaik’s honey-making class.
Honey Day this year revolved around bees’ vital function
in the ecosystem.
“Bees play a very important role in pollinating plants;
without them, many plants would not be able to reproduce;
the food chain would collapse; and life on Earth would not
Continued
subsist,” said Ollaik.
The day saw students offering free samples of bananas
drizzled with citrus honey and selling a medley of honey
products, including citrus and Laklouk honey, royal jelly and
honey muffins, with profits going towards AUB’s live apiary.
Participants were treated to the live extraction of AUB
comb honey, which is mostly from eucalyptus trees.
Tamara Kteily, a Business senior, said the event helped
dispel many common fears about bees.
“Before I took the course, I was a little afraid of bees. Now
that I know how to handle them, I have realized that they are
harmless, and help the environment in phenomenal ways.”
Honeybees in particular will not sting or attack a human
unless the human interferes with their hive, she explained.
According to Professor Ollaik, honeybees do not just
produce hives but tremendously impact the ecosystem.
“In mid-2006, the world witnessed a strange phenomenon
called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), where beekeepers
started to notice that bees were disappearing from their
hives. CCD has led to the annual loss of some 30 to 40
percent of honey bees in many countries,” he explained.
Profits go towards AUB’s live apiary.
The phenomenon is possibly linked to factors of environmental
degradation, like climate change, global warming,
and pollution. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been put
into researching CCD.
Keeping apiaries in urban settings has the value of
helping to keep bees active and busy, as well as providing
them with a pesticide-free habitat, Ollaik explained.
“As for AUB, the live apiary has been a part of the campus
for over ten years, before CCD spurred urban beekeeping.
AUB’s apiary brings pollination benefits onto the campus,
thus contributing to maintaining the greenery,” he said.
36th Folk Dance Festival enthralls AUB
Fifteen dance groups, representing schools, colleges, and
dance centers, participated in the 36 th Folk Dance Festival,
held on AUB’s Green Oval on Sunday, May 30, 2010.
As the Master of Ceremonies announced each troupe’s
name, members paraded gracefully, displaying their colorful
costumes before taking their allotted positions.
Maroun Kisirwani, dean of Student Affairs at AUB,
thanked participating schools and trainers, noting that the
dancers had trained hard and “promise[d] to perform beautiful
dances.”
Dancers performed routines from all over the globe,
reflecting a variety of cultures including Indian, Greek,
Sampling free citrus honey-drizzled bananas.
American, Irish, and Lebanese.
While all dances were professionally executed, some
were especially memorable. The “Indian Exhibition Dance,”
performed by Ramel El Zaydaniyeh School, was a particular
delight.
The Howard Karagheusian Center performed an
“Armenian Exhibition Dance” in traditional national dress.
The “Fusion Arabic Mix Dance Exhibition” by Shouf
National College was performed to jazzy Arabic music,
with the female dancers dressed like young Lebanese
princesses.
The “Zorba Dance Exhibition” by the Youth Group of the
Continued
30 AUB Bulletin June 2010 AUB Bulletin June 2010 31

Dancers evoking other cultures.
Hellenistic Community in Beirut was another festival highlight,
with dancers excelling in a demanding choreography.
The program included performances by dancers of the
Zwartnotz Center – which consists of children with Down’s
Syndrome – who charmed the audience with their wonderful
performance.
Hiba Hamadeh, coordinator of Student Activities at the
Office of Student Affairs at AUB, said that this year’s festival
succeeded in bringing together students from various backgrounds.
She added that the dancers fared exceptionally
well, given that training for the event only started in January
2010.
The AUB Folk Dance Festival has become a University
tradition ever since its inception in 1951. Many universities
participated in the festival back then, said Nagib Hobeika, a
member of the festival committee and former president of
the AUB Dance Club between 1951 and 1954.
“In the past, participants were grown-up university students
and the audience was ten times today’s audience on
the Green Field,” said Hobeika.
In 1951, Harry Dorman, president Peter Dorman’s
father, then head of the Presbyterian mission at the Near
East School of Theology (NEST) in Beirut, was Master of
Ceremonies.
AUB Development Office
Post Office Box 11-0236
Beirut,
Lebanon
AUB New York Office
3 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
8th Floor, New York, NY 10017-2303 USA
32 AUB Bulletin June 2010