OUTLINE - Notre Dame University

NDU IN THE
UNITED STATES
The Annual Conference of the
Association of Catholic Colleges
and Universities (ACCU), January 27-
30, 2003, held in Washington D.C., had
as its theme Educational Cooperation
and Solidarity. More than 300 members
representing 142 Catholic institutions
of higher education were present
at the conference. Very few overseas
universities attended, but among
those that did take part was NDU. Dr.
Ameen A. Rihani participated in the
panel discussions that took place in
several meetings. He highlighted the
ideas of maintaining academic standards
while implementing terms of
cooperation, the significance of sharing
multicultural experiences among
departments of the same area of learning,
and the need for research
exchange in developing centers and
institutes of scientific and socio-economic
studies.
Contacts were made during the conference
with leaders of higher education
in America such as Rev. Fr.
Joseph O’Hare, President of
Fordham University in New York,
Sister Rose Marie Kujawa, President
of Madona University in Michigan,
Professor Joe Petite, Vice President
for Research and Development at
Georgetown University in
Washington D.C., Dr. Jan Peters,
President of the International
Federation of Catholic Universities,
and Dr. Monika K. Hellwig,
President of the Association of
Catholic Colleges and Universities.
NDU was mentioned more than
once in the General Assemblies of
the Conference, and was active in
two-day group discussions on present
educational challenges, working
modules of cooperation, sharing
points of strength, dealing with com-
mon concerns, and discussing strategies
for future development at the
academic and administrative levels.
Dr. Rihani paid a visit to the Catholic
University in Washington D.C.,
where he met with the Provost Dr.
John J. Convey. The draft for a
Memorandum of Agreement, prepared
by Dr. Rihani, was discussed
at length. Faculty and student
exchanges were reviewed to study
the scope of interest and implementation
on both sides. The three new
NDU research projects were highlighted,
namely: The Lebanese
Diaspora Research Center (LDRC),
The Water Research Center (WRC),
and the Manuscript Digitization
Center (MDC). The follow-up to this
meeting is taking place right now
between the two universities.
Another meeting took place between
Dr. Rihani and Mr. Dana Pratt, the
President of the American Friends of
NDU (AFN). Mrs. Mona Kan’an,
General Secretary of the Board of
Trustees attended the meeting. Mr.
Pratt reported that the official recognition
of the Association was issued
in the State of Maryland and that the
file for issuing the (501 C3) at the
Federal level is under preparation.
As a follow-up to that meeting, the
official papers of AFN were filed on
February 3, 2003, with the hope of
receiving the non-profit status sometime
early July.
In New York, Dr. Rihani visited
Columbia University and had a
three-hour meeting with Professor
Erwin Flaxman, Director of the
Urban Studies Research Center, with
the presence of Dr. George El-Hage
from the Department of Middle
Eastern Studies, and Dr. Gibran
Majdalani from the Department of
Educational Administration. The
LDRC at NDU was the subject of discussion.
Dr. Rihani gave a long presentation
about the rationale, objectives
and plan of action of the new
research project. Dr. Flaxman
explained specific studies conducted
by the Urban Institute of Columbia
University. Both speakers sorted out
some common concerns and areas of
interest such as: human diversity,
adaptation to new communities, criteria
for a productive citizen, cultural
dialogue, human rights, minority
issues, ethnic group and national
solidarity, variables in self-identity,
migration problems, citizen of a
country v/s citizen of the world, a
bridge between East and West, the
Middle East and Europe, Lebanon
and the United States, Lebanon and
South America, etc.. At the end of
the meeting, Dr. Flaxman confirmed
to Dr. Rihani his willingness to join
efforts in possible future plans
between the Urban Institute at
Columbia University and the
Lebanese Diaspora Research Center
at NDU.
In Boston, Dr. Rihani met with
Monsignor Joseph Lahoud, Dr.
Melhem Aswad and other
Lebanese-Americans and discussed
with them the new research projects
at the University and the future
plans of the American Friends of
NDU in more than one city in the
United States. N
4 NNU SPIRIT