Winter 2008 Vol. VI, No. 2

Inside the Gate

Campaign Update

Supporting AUB’s New PhD Students:

The John Waterbury Endowed Fellowship Fund

Shortly after President John Waterbury announced his decision to step down as president of AUB at the end of the 2007-08 academic year, the Board of Trustees launched an initiative to raise $5 million to establish the John Waterbury Endowed Fellowship Fund before the end of the Campaign for Excellence. The proceeds from the endowed fellowship fund will be used to award fellowships to entering doctoral candidates at AUB who need financial support.

Most American universities offer PhD students financial assistance in the form of fellowships and/or teaching assistantships to supplement outside funding. With the launch of the new PhD programs, AUB wants to be able to provide similar support for its doctoral students. A $5 million John Waterbury Endowed Fellowship Fund would be able to support initially approximately 10 fellowships. Over time, new gifts and a growing fund will enable AUB to award an increasing number of Waterbury Fellowships.

In announcing the fund, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Thomas Q. Morris explained, “Although it has taken a great deal of work to get to this point, establishing these eight PhD programs is only a beginning. It is critically important that we make the resources, including financial support for PhD students, available to ensure that these programs will be successful.”

Of the 50 students who applied, only 14 enrolled in AUB’s eight PhD programs in fall 2007. These eight men and six women have traveled different paths. Some, like Hani Al- Naghi, who has been a free lance consultant in urban transportation planning for several years and an instructor in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture since 2005, have put aside their careers to become students once again. Lama Idilbi, who received her master’s degree in modern Arabic poetry from St. Joseph University, has been an Arabic teacher at IC since 2002. Mohammed Husseini spent three years as an instructor in the IT Department of the Arab Open University (AOU) before returning to AUB as a doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering.

Others, like Khaleel Mershad, have traveled even shorter distances. Mershad has been a research assistant at AUB since completing his master’s degree in February 2007. Although Mohammad Al-Othmani has a BE in mechanical engineering from the Lebanese University Branch III, he too earned his master’s degree from AUB.

In addition to providing critical support for AUB’s new PhD students, the John Waterbury Endowed Fellowship Fund also recognizes President Waterbury’s intellectual and academic accomplishments as a scholar of the Middle East. Prior to coming to AUB, John Waterbury spent almost 20 years as a professor of politics and international affairs and director of the Center of International Studies at Princeton University. He has continued to be an active researcher at AUB; his most recent publication— The Nile Basin: National Determinants of Collective Action—was published by Yale University Press in 2002.

PhDs offered in 2007–08:
• Arab and Middle Eastern History
• Arabic Language and Literature
• Cell and Molecular Biology
• Civil Engineering
• Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Environmental and Water Resources Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Theoretical Physics

To make a contribution or to find out more about the John Waterbury Endowed Fellowship Fund, please contact Vice President for Development and External Relations W. Stephen Jeffrey at (212) 583-7600 or jeffrey@aub.edu.