• Role 1: AUB as a good neighbor.
Here we would intensify things we already do like sponsoring cultural events, perhaps a neighborhood art fair, visits to the archaeological museum, expanding our Continuing Education offerings, and expanding student and faculty involvement in community service.

• Role 2: AUB as a partner in neighborhood revitalization.
This would entail a higher level of involvement and resources. Faculty and student talent could be made available to promote neighborhood diversity, help small businesses to understand their market better, or to enhance the cleanliness and security of the neighborhood. We would have to develop channels of communication to the community beyond our walls and encourage participatory planning with major neighborhood stakeholders.

• Role 3: AUB as a producer of knowledge.
This would build on the previous two roles and entail more ambitious commitment of human and material resources. We would try to harness faculty talent to address longer term issues facing Ras Beirut so that we can anticipate together major challenges and provide solutions. Ideally this phase would involve sister institutions in Ras Beirut. When one thinks of the talent we have collectively in education, public health, business, civil and environmental engineering, medical care, and public administration, it is obvious that we have expertise that would be the envy of any city anywhere.

The goal for all of us should be a neighborhood where people of all sects and different levels of income can live together in peace if not in harmony, and where all inhabitants can enjoy and contribute to the cultural and intellectual life that all these educational institutions create. I have always marveled at the Corniche just outside our gates. Here we find Beirutis, men and women, children and grandparents, all income levels, the religiously conservative to the religiously indifferent, sharing the sea, the air and one another. That is or was the spirit of Ras Beirut, and AUB has an obligation to nurture that spirit. It is an obligation we should accept willingly and gladly.

In closing, let us all pray for a year in which our politicians are afflicted with the disease of sanity and concern for the public good; a year in which we can say a corner was turned and Lebanon is once again on the right path.

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Journalism Training Program
AUB launched a Journalism Training Program (JTP) in May for Arab reporters working in print, broadcast, and on-line media. Training will address basic news reporting and writing, editing, war/safety coverage, on-line journalism, and media ethics in Arabic, English, and French. In the last four months, JTP Director Magda Abu Fadil has organized workshops on investigative journalism, elections coverage, newsroom management, and journalist safety.

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F E A
Dedicating the Dar Al-Handasah (Shair and Partners) Architecture Building and the Kamal Shair Central Research Science Laboratory (CRSL)
AUB students, faculty, and trustees piled into the Architecture Lecture Hall on a sticky Wednesday afternoon in October for the dedication ceremony for the Dar Al-Handasah (Shair and Partners) Architecture Building and the Kamal Shair Central Research Science Laboratory (CRSL). President Waterbury, who spoke first, described Kamal Shair as a man with many passions—including AUB.

In his remarks, Dean Hajj mentioned that the building, which is currently the home of AUB’s Department of Architecture and Design, was built more than 75 years ago as the Chemistry Building. He described how the explosive growth in the number of architecture and design students at AUB in recent years has placed enormous strains on the building, which is used “24 hours a day, seven days, a week, throughout the year…primarily after midnight.” This comment elicited some chuckles and smiles from many in the audience, including Department Chair Leila Musfy, who explained later that architecture and design students do work differently from students in other AUB programs. “They put in long hours, they need space so they can spread out their work, and they often make a big mess,” she said. Musfy explained that she and her colleagues are currently working with a space consultant and AUB’s Facilities Planning and Design Unit to think through the types of spaces that they need. “This gift is a wonderful opportunity for us and we want to get the most we can from it. We want to renovate the building so that our students are encouraged to spend more time in the building where they can learn from each other. This is an experience that is—or at least should be—a critical part of the educational experience for every architecture and design student!”

Dean Bitar focused his remarks on the CSRL, which he described as a “user facility”—a laboratory with general purpose equipment that was established for students and faculty to use together to do research. He noted that Trustee Shair has long been a supporter of efforts to strengthen research at AUB and of the successful multiyear effort to reintroduce PhD programs.

Trustee Kamal Shair recalled that he was appointed as an assistant professor at AUB more than 50 years ago, in 1956. He spoke with great emotion and eloquence of President Waterbury’s commitment to raise standards at AUB and his years of inspired leadership. As the ceremony came to an end, Trustee Ghassan Tueni took the podium. Although he had not been scheduled to speak, he felt moved to do so describing Dr. Shair, a man he has known for more than 25 years, as “an excellent example for others to follow.”

Speed Daemon Meets Evil Knieval
Mechanical engineering students added a fun twist to MECH 321, Mechanical Engineering Tools, this spring. The electrically motored cars students design to pass the course must compete in five races: Speed Daemon, Evil Knievel, Tug of War, Up the Incline, and Obstacle Course. The contest, first introduced three years ago, is divided into three parts. The last race, in front of College Hall, attracted a large number of students who cheered for their favorite cars. After five rounds of racing, Shafi’a—a traditional Lebanese name—proved to be the best car this year.

F A F S
Celebrating Modern Arabic Poetry
Commemorating the 25th anniversary of Khalil Hawi’s death in 1982, the Department of Arabic and Near Eastern Languages, AUB’s Al-Abhath journal, and the Orient- Institut, Beirut held a three-day conference in June on Hawi’s work. Arab and Western scholars, poets, and critics gathered to discuss his poetry and contextualize the contributions of this cultural thinker, literary theorist, and Arab nationalist.

Tufts Comes to AUB
Nine undergraduate students from Tufts University in Massachusetts visited Lebanon in March as participants in a new program launched by the New Initiative for Middle East Peace (NIMEP). They conducted research and studied issues of state and society by meeting with prominent Lebanese political figures. When meeting with the students, Rami Khuri, director of the Issam Fares Institute at AUB, stressed that “Beirut is the most important and fascinating human political place to be in the world today…It is the Berlin Wall of the new Cold War.”

Moving Away from Tobacco Farming
Economics Professor Nader Kabbani and Asma Bazzi, Environment Core Labs administrator, presented the results of their study on economic alternatives to tobacco farming in rural south Lebanon at ibsar on April 17. Tobacco is one of Lebanon’s major agricultural crops and is particularly important in rural South Lebanon, where 60 percent of the residents rely on tobacco farming for their livelihood. According to Kabbani and Bazzi, tobacco farmers are anxious to consider alternatives to tobacco farming because of the likelihood that government price supports will diminish over time.

F H S
FHS Announces $1-million Ford Endowment In September 2007, the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) received a $1 million endowment from the Ford Foundation, which AUB must match by 2009. The endowment, which celebrates a long-time collaboration between FHS and the foundation that dates back to 1983, will help support the Center for Research on Population and Health (CRPH) and fund graduate scholarships in public health for regional students. “This generous endowment will ensure the sustainability of CRPH and enable it to build on past achievements in research and outreach,” said Marwan Khawaja, CRPH director.

Since its establishment in January 2002, CRPH has aimed to be a center for regional research and outreach on population and health issues. CRPH has developed the “research working group” concept that allows affiliate FHS faculty and students and professors from other faculties at AUB and from national and regional universities to collaborate and explore exciting new areas for research and education.

Among the most important current CRPH sponsored research projects are intervention studies on women’s urban health and youth urban health, both funded by the Wellcome Trust, and an initiative to improve access and quality of health care for Bedouins in Jordan and Lebanon, which is funded by the European Commission. CRPH has also launched a monthly seminar series and sponsored regional workshops such as the first annual regional workshop on Urbanization, Poverty, and Health in May 2007.

Since 2001, FHS has raised funds to support regional students as part of its mission to train public health professionals from the region. So far, FHS has supported 23 students from Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Tunis, and Yemen and offered nine scholarships to Lebanese physicians specializing in public health. Almost all regional students have returned to their countries upon graduation to assume important public health positions. “The Ford Endowment will allow FHS to continue its support for regional graduate public health scholarship,” said Dean Huda Zurayk.

One of the program’s graduates is Yara Jarallah who received a grant from the Arab Fund that enabled her to complete an MS in Population Health in 2005. She was a visiting fellow at the CRPH April-June 2007. Jarallah’s experience at FHS played a pivotal role in her successful career and research. “My graduate studies at FHS had a major influence on my career and helped me pursue my passion in the field of population health as it pertains to sexual and reproductive health, migration, gender, and human rights… Following my graduation from FHS, I was granted a fellowship with the United National Population Fund both in New York and the country office in Palestine to work on sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV/AIDS prevention, and gender and population issues." Jarallah is currently conducting research on quality of life issues at the Institute of Community and Public Health at Birzeit University.

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Scholarships and Financial Aid
PepsiCo International (PI) recently donated $35,000 to provide partial scholarships for six academically outstanding students in business administration, public administration, and engineering. A seventh award went to the best athlete. Each student received $5,000. PepsiCo student scholarships have been awarded annually since 1995. Over the years, PI has donated more than $300,000 to the scholarship fund that has benefited more than 60 AUB students. Vice President of Pepsi-Cola International—Middle East and Africa Region Talal al-Khalil presented the check to Dean of Student Affairs Maroun Kisirwani…For the fifth consecutive year, HSBC Bank Middle East renewed the company’s support for the scholarship program. CEO Charles P. S. Hall visited AUB to present its annual donation of $10,000 to support the HSBC Scholarship Fund. This year, Mira Semaan and Samer Darwich were the recipients of the scholarship. Darwich, who was selected to complete his junior summer internship at the HSBC Head Office, said, “It was a great honor to be selected among many students to be given this aid by the HSBC Scholarship Fund at AUB. I would like to thank HSBC Lebanon for this aid and for my summer training that I spent at one of the most important financial institutions in the world. The experience I had, working in the HSBC Trade Services Department was very helpful in introducing me to the working environment I would be exposed to in less than a year.” …

AUB Scholarship Fundraising Committee Chair HE Khalil Makkawi recently presented President Waterbury with a donation of $185,000, which was raised through committee members’ solicitation of personal and corporate donations to financial aid and through a fundraising concert by Lebanese Diva Magida El Roumi in April 2007 at the Casino Du Liban.

Through the efforts of the AUB Scholarship Fundraising Committee, and through the philanthropic gestures of prominent AUB alumni and friends, new scholarship funds were established, including the Bahaa Rafic Hariri Scholarship, the Saudi Oger Scholarship, and the Aramex International Scholarship. A portion of the money also went to add to the AUB Scholarship Fundraising Committee Endowed Scholarship Fund. Income from this endowment will be used to provide financial assistance to needy and qualified students at AUB.

AUBMC News
Collaboration Agreement with MD Anderson
AUBMC and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center recently signed an agreement to expand opportunities for collaboration on research and patient care. Vice President of Medical Affairs and the Raja N. Khuri Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Nadim Cortas and Dr. John Mendelsohn, president of MD Anderson Cancer Center, signed the agreement in Houston during MD Anderson’s third annual Sister Institution Conference in June.

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Abu-Haidar Neuroscience Institute
On October 4, members of the Abu-Haidar family, AUB trustees, faculty, and AUBMC staff gathered to celebrate the inauguration of the Abu-Haidar Neuroscience Institute (AHNI) with a dedication ceremony at Issam Fares Hall, a plaque unveiling, and a ribbon cutting. Dr. Rose-Mary Boustany, director of the institute, Mr. Munir Abu-Haidar, Vice President Dean Nadim Cortas, and President John Waterbury spoke at the ceremony about the importance of the institute that will house a psychiatry unit, psychiatric ambulatory services for children and adults, and an inpatient psychiatry ward. AHNI, which will include the Raymond D. Adams and Maria Salam-Adams Library, will offer specialty training positions in pediatric neurology, adult neurology, and neurosurgery.

Tarek Ahmad Juffali Group-Therapy Room
On August 20, Raja Nahas and Anis Qabbani of the Tarek Ahmad Juffali Foundation presented the first pledge to name the Group Therapy Room and Conference Room of the Abu-Haidar Neuroscience Institute. The Tarek Ahmad Juffali Group Therapy Room is an important resource in psychotherapy treatment and will be used to hold sessions to treat addiction disorders and couple therapy. The Tarek Ahmad Juffali Conference Room will be used for faculty meetings, research, and clinical presentations. Both rooms will be located in the Psychiatry Division of AHNI.

Faculty News
Combating Illiteracy through IT:
Dr. Mohamad Adnan Al-Alaoui, FEA, professor of electrical and computer engineering, presented a paper he co-authored with Mesrob I. Ohannessian, Ghinwa F. Choueiter, Christine Akl, T. Taline Avakian, Ismail Al Kamal, and Rony Ferzli entitled, “A Pilot Project from Illiteracy to Computer Literacy: Teaching and Learning Using Information Technology,” at the International Conference (ICL): Interactive Computer Aided Learning in Villach, Austria, September 26- 28, 2007. The paper addressed how information and communication technology can combat illiteracy through E-Learning, and highlights the use of speech and handwriting recognition.

Dr. Jamal El-Den, lecturer at OSB, presented his paper, “Tacit Knowledge Transfer Among Geographically Distributed Group Members: An Experimental Analysis” at the European Conference on Knowledge Management 2007 in Barcelona, Spain, September 6-7, 2007.

Dr. Samih Isber, FAS, associate professor of physics, presented a paper he coauthored with C. Madi, “Superconducting Properties of Chromium Doped YBCO Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition,” at the 8th European Conference on Superconductivity (EUCAS 07) in Brussels, Belgium, September 16-20, 2007.

Dr. Fouad Mrad, FEA, professor of electrical and communications engineering, attended the International Conference on Software and Data Technologies in Barcelona, Spain, July 22-25, which was organized by the Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control, and Communications. He presented a paper entitled “A Case Study on the Applicability of Software Reliability Models to a Telecommunication Software” that was coauthored by Professors Hassan Artail of ECE and Mohamad Ali Mortada (ME in ECE 2006).

Dr. Omar Obeid, FAFS, associate professor of nutrition and food sciences, presented “Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Adult Lebanese Population” at the 10th Asian Congress of Nutrition (ACN) September 9-13, 2007 in Taipei, Taiwan. The paper was co-authored with Abla- Mehio Sibar, Malek Batal, Nada Adra, Dalia El Khoury, and Nahla Hwalla. Metabolic syndrome is characterized by a group of risk factors (such as raised blood pressure or abdominal obesity) that increase an individual’s risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. According to a total sample of 499 men and women aged 18-65 years, the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was 31.2 percent in the total sample, but was significantly higher in men (38.6 percent) as compared to women (25.8 percent).

Dr. Sylvia Shorto, FEA, assistant professor of architecture and graphic design, presented “Continuity and Change: Ain Sofar as Textual Evidence” at the International Seminar on Urban Form in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil, August 28-31, 2007.

Dr. Imad H. Elhajj, FAS, Electrical and Computer Engineering coauthored “Data Centric Adaptive In-Network Aggregation for Wireless Sensor Networks” with Hesiri Weerasinghe, Aleksandra Krsteva, and Mazen Abou Najm. He presented the paper at the 2007 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics which was held in Zurich Switzerland from September 4 – 7, 2007.

Arts
AUB Revisits the Glory of Lebanese Comic Books
Painter, writer, and deputy editor at AUB’s Office of Information and Public Relations Henry Matthews exhibited his rare collection of Lebanese comic books in West Hall in May. The vintage collection included Lebanese children's comics of Bissat Al Reeh, Dunya Al Ahdath (World of Children), Al Foursan (The Knights), As Sahm Az Zahabee (The Golden Arrow), and Ibn Battuta (Ibn Battuta’s Adventures).

Also featured in the collection were other popular comics, like Bonanza, Awdat Tarzan (Tarzan’s Return), Al Abtal (The Heroes), and Al Barq (Lightning).

A panel discussion was held on May 24 in West Hall; Matthews and Ameen Rihani surveyed the history of Lebanese comics.

Reviving Europa
The AUB Archaeological Museum and the Society of Friends of the AUB Museum celebrated International Museum Day on May 18 by holding an afternoon of festivities on the theme, “The Abduction of Europa: from Tyre to Crete,” that included presentations, a dance, and a singing performance.