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Lynn
Mahoney Calder |
Ada H. Porter
joined AUB in September as director of communications for AUB at the New
York office and as coeditor of the magazine MainGate. Although she had never
been to AUB, Beirut, or Lebanon before her first visit this past fall,
Porter is not unfamiliar with the Arab world. As assistant to the director
of the Arabic Language Institute in Fez, Morocco, from 2000 to 2001, she
supervised the Arabic Language Program and also served as French-English
translator for the Fez Festival of International Sacred Music. On her return
to the United States, she served as executive secretary of the Arab-American
Family Support Center in Brooklyn, New York, from 2001 to 2002, and was also
a board member of the Arab- American Justice Project in New York City.
Porter comes to AUB with a background in development and communications.
From 2002 to 2005 she was assistant director of development and then
associate director of communications and development at the Lycée Français
in New York City. Before joining AUB, she worked briefly as director of
communications and programs for the Business Council of Westchester in White
Plains, New York.
During her first visit to campus in September-October Porter met with
various deans and other administrators; she also familiarized herself with
the Offices of Development, Publications, and Information and Public
Relations, and met with prospective MainGate writers. Of her visit to AUB,
she wrote, “I found that there is an overwhelming sense of positive change,
and there is always an eye on the past. The energy and spirit you see in the
students, the faculty, and in Lebanon in general tells you that there is a
great future in store for the University and the country.” She hopes that
MainGate will continue “to grow and become a ‘home base’ for alumni, and
give everyone a glimpse of the extraordinary community of thousands of
people that makes AUB tick.”
Porter graduated from Haverford College in Pennsylvania with a BA in French
literature and a concentration in piano performance. While at Haverford she
did her junior year at the Université d’Aix/Marseilles IV, and from 1999 to
2000 she was a Fulbright scholar in Fez, Morocco. During the summer of 2004
she studied graphic design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
As coeditor of MainGate, Ada Porter replaces Lynn Mahoney, who resigned from
AUB in September in order to be with her new husband, Peter Calder, in
Wilmington Delaware, where she is now assistant director of foundation
relations at the Winterthur Museum.
Mahoney joined AUB in 1999 after five years as assistant director for public
relations in the New York office of the American University at Cairo. While
with AUB, Mahoney was associate director of development; in February 2005
she was appointed director of communications. She served with Ibrahim Khoury
as the first coeditor of MainGate from the inception of the magazine in 2002
until her resignation.
Mahoney left AUB with regret. She wrote, “I could say my time at AUB was one
of the most creative and invigorating opportunities of my career as well as
of my personal life. I had the chance to gain a greater understanding of the
Middle East and experience the warm hospitality of the Lebanese people and
see one of the most beautiful countries of the world...I consider Beirut to
be my second home in many ways. Being part of the change and vibrancy of AUB
was an amazing experience. I feel fortunate to have worked under the
leadership of John Waterbury and Steve Jeffrey as well as of Dick Debs and
Tom Morris.”
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