Bulletin - American University of Beirut

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
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