AUB Announces New Center for Civic Engagement and Community Service

Professor of agriculture Rami Zurayk heads fall 2006 campaign to feed the needy

The American University of Beirut is proud to announce the establishment of the Center for Civic Engagement and Community Service. The Center, which has received start-up funding from the United States Agency for International Development for its first year, will provide opportunities for AUB students of all backgrounds to study and respond to social and civic issues that are of critical importance to the Lebanese people and to the Middle East, and will encourage community-based research among the AUB faculty

As President John Waterbury stated in his State of the University address on February 24, 2004, "it is not enough to provide a good education to our students. We must in addition constantly ask ourselves how we can serve our community" - something AUB has done throughout its 140-year history. In addition to ongoing programs that are sponsored by individual faculties and student clubs, AUB has also launched targeted initiatives during crisis situations as it did during the summer 2006 war. On that occasion, President Waterbury established the Task Force for Reconstruction and Community Service to coordinate the University's response to reconstruction efforts in Lebanon. The Center for Civic Engagement and Community Service will build on the work of that task force and leverage AUB's experience and resources to support and encourage leadership, scholarship, volunteerism, and community partnerships.

The establishment of this center will enable AUB to more effectively fulfill its mission to "serve the peoples of the Middle East and beyond," said Provost Peter Heath. "It will also play an important role in encouraging and supporting student involvement in community service."