Richard
Sadaka joined the Economics Department as assistant Professor in October
199, after completing his PhD in labor management studies at Rice University
in Texas. Born in Beirut of Australian-British-Lebanese parentage, Sadaka
was educated at International College and AUB, where he earged partners
where he earned his BA in economics with distinction in 1989.
After ten
years in the United States, Professor Sadaka gas returned to his roots
and his immediate family. his father, Victor Sadaka, is pastor of the
First Baptist Church in Makhoul Street, and Professor Sadaka is assisting
his father in his pastoral duties.
"I wanted
to come back to Lebanon and I thought this would be a good place for me.
I didn't want to stay in the US for a number of reasons. I wanted to help
out my parents in various ways,... to be involved in that. I think that's
valuable and important work."
Dr. Sadaka
specializes in theoretical and labor economics, with emphasis on microeconomics.
his doctoral dissertation, "Carrots and Sticks: Enforceable Effort
and the Minimum Wage," develops a model of labor economics. During
the current year Sadaka has been teaching elementary microeconomics, economic
statistics, mathematical economics, and an introduction to mico-economics
for graduate students.
He finds
AUB students quite different from those he was teaching in the United
States. US students are slightly more conscientious. Sadaka was clearly
distressed about student absences, but he rejects taking attendance. "I
remind students about missing class, but I tell them I'm not going to
be their policeman."
Sadaka is
determined to limit memorization by involving students in his courses
through regular homework. "When they work on problems," he said,
"they get a better understanding of the material, and that's what
I'm after. I don't want students to get a formula and memorize it and
apply it without understanding." But checking on homework is a time
consuming exercise for beginning teachers required to do research and
to publish regularly.
Professor
Sadaka finds the emphasis on research at AUB a major cause of distress
for new faculty members. A university, he feels, should be either teaching-oriented
or research-oriented. Here at AUB 'we are being told we need to do research
as much as or more than research-oriented universities in the United States."
When Sadaka
told his professor back at Rice University that he would be teaching three
courses per semester, the professor assured him that he would "go
crazy". He surely wouldn't have time for research.
AUB doesn't
take into consideration, Sadaka went on, that research is much more difficult
at AUB than in the US, where resources are much more readily available;
computers, computer packages, computer help, and library facilities.
Limited technology
and support systems also complicate research at AUB. Sadaka had to wait
three months to get a computer in his office, and AUB, unlike universities
in the US, does not supply computer software.
Teaching
in the US is also easier, Sadaka continued, where graduate assistants
ease the grading load. "AUB needs more graduate assistants,"
he declared. Dr. Sadaka found AUB graduate assistants much more willing
than he had anticipated. Many were eager to become involved in the respomsibility
of grading, believing they spend far too much time doing menial secretarial
work.
Sadaka believes
that the Economics Department has to few professors. At Rice, where total
enrollment is only around three thousand, the Economics Department has
18 faculty members as opposed to five at AUB.
In his leisure
time Sadaka enjoys reading novels, poetry, and biography; and listening
to music, especially classical music and golden oldies.
Dr.
Ghassan Rizk: Untimely Death of a
"Dear Friend, Colleague and Scholar"
Dr.
Ghassan Rizk, Professor of Radiology, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly
on March 29, 2000. Born on March 9, 1933, he completed his premedical
and medical education at AUB, receiving his MS in 1952 and MD in 1957.
Following a year of residency training in Radiology at AUB, he
completed four years of residency training in Radiology, Radiotherapy
and Nuclear Medicine, and Cardiovascular Radiology at Memorial Center
and St. Luke's Hospital, respectively, in New York City. He joined AUBMC
in 1965 and had been Professor of Radiology since 1977.
In his announcement Dr. Nadim Cortas, Vice President for Medical
Affairs and Dean, Faculty of Medicine and medical Center, said that Dr.
Rizk was an exemplary teacher, professional and colleague--a model of
maturity, pleasantness, dedication and concern.
Dr. Rizk is survived by his wife Mrs. Iris Rizk and his son Samer.
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