On January 31 and February 1, the Office of Student Affairs held its annual New Student Orientation Program for over 150 accepted AUB Lebanese and international students who came from the following 20 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Norway, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, the United States of America, and Yemen. This year, the newcomers had registered for orientation in a “New Student Orientation Booklet” that was enclosed within their acceptance package, which confirmed their intent to participate and also gave them the option of signing up for the airport shuttle and on-campus housing. Organized by Caroline Chalouhi and Wadad El-Husseini, the new students’ orientation program, which was held at West Hall, officially started with a breakfast that was served on the second floor terrace, where informal introductions were made. Then, after being seated at Bathish auditorium, the students were officially welcomed to AUB by Provost Peter Heath, Dean Maroun Kisirwani, and Nadine Naffah of the Admissions Office. Caroline Chalouhi, after going over with the students the agenda of the two-day orientation program, then introduced the representatives of the 12 participating AUB departments, who came in to explain their services to the new students. These included the Office of the Registrar, the faculties, Student Affairs, Computer and Networking Services, the Academic Computing Center, Campus Security, Environmental Health, Safety and Risk Management, the Visitors Bureau, the Comptrollers Office, the Financial Aid Office, the Infirmary, the Benefits Coordinator’s Office, and the Counseling Center. At the end of the first day, the students were taken by Chalouhi to the Solidere headquarters in downtown Beirut, where they were given a presentation of Solidere’s reconstruction projects. This was followed by a welcome dinner, which was held at the Diwan Sultan Al-Ibrahim Restaurant in Achrafieh. Finally, during the weekend, after the advising and registration procedures had been concluded, the new students were taken for a cultural trip to Byblos by Dean of Student Affairs Maroun Kisirwani.
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