“Follow Me to the Moon” is the visionary title of this year’s catalog design concept. Inspired by the science fiction movie Interstellar, the quote reflects the ability of LAU’s design students to strive for excellence, break boundaries and reach new goals.

The annual catalogue features the work of 47 graphic design students, among whom Fatima Al Hamawi, Noura Nassar, Mohammad Houhou and Tiffany Moujaes received this year’s best achievement award.

“The inspiration for my project comes from the realization that most people in Lebanon do not know enough about the Lebanese civil war, yet they still fight about it,” says Noura Nassar, who ideated a platform that seeks to help unite her society.

Curated by designers and illustrators, the platform allows the general public to post their memories of the war and pin them to a specific geographical area. A postcard with a barcode is then placed in each of these areas, so that passers-by can scan it and learn about another person’s story – be it from their own or the opposite side of the conflict.

“People will be able to relate to that personal memory,” says Nassar. “In the end, it is empathy what will bring us together.”

A very successful project was that of Tiffany Moujaes, whose hand-drawn educational interactive projection aims to change the way children between the ages of 12 and 15 approach art.

“The most gratifying part of my project was not receiving the award, but seeing that it really works on children,” says Moujaes, who based its performance on scientific research investigating what stimulates children’s creativity. The project was tried out in the school she used to attend where the children achieved such impressive results that the institution invited her to hold a course.

The students’ works were displayed last week at the annual senior student exhibition during which the awards were distributed to the four winners. Certificates were also handed out to those who participated in the “Adopt a Creative” project, which every year offers three students the opportunity of being coached by creative directors at Leo Burnett.

“We want to nurture the culture of design and contribute to the creation of a community of design thinkers,” said Chair of the Department of Design Yasmine Taan, who spares no effort in finding new possibilities of bridging the gap between students and professionals. “We also want to make the general public understand that design can provide a service to society and improve our quality of life.”

Odile Riachi, creative director at Leo Burnett, opened the exhibition by stressing the benefits such initiatives bring to the professional world as well. “It is enriching for us to keep in touch with new creative talents,” she said. “A new dialogue is happening and we plan to keep it going.”

Photos by Photography Instructor Bassam Lahoud.

As the B.S. in Graphic Design is offered on both Byblos and Beirut campuses, an exhibition was also hosted at LAU Byblos.

The winners at LAU Beirut exhibition.

“Civic engagement is not genetic. It must be repeated generation after generation. This is the basis of constitutional democracies.” So said LAU President Joseph G. Jabbra to a room of LAU students, staff and faculty who came together with representatives of the civil society pressure group, Civic Influence Hub (CIH), to witness and celebrate the signing of an agreement between the two entities.

“This historic moment will initiate a partnership of work, not just talk,” said CIH Councilor Fahd Saccal, who signed the agreement on behalf of the organization. The partnership, he explained, will include collaboration between CIH and the academic core of LAU on macro policy planning as well as engagement with students, through micro projects, to stress the importance of civic involvement and social responsibility.

“Details of individual initiatives will be developed over time with faculty and students from different schools,” explained Elie Samia, assistant vice president of outreach and civic engagement and head of the LAU’s Outreach and Civic Engagement unit (OCE). “CIH comprises decision makers, agenda setters and thought controllers, and LAU has trained students, experienced faculty and premises in Sidon, Beirut and Byblos, as well as strong ties and experience with thousands of youths, and hundreds of school and NGOs,” added Samia, emphasizing the richness and fruitfulness of the new partnership. “Together we can create bigger ripple effects.”

OCE has for years been preparing its students for active participation in community-centered projects. “A culture has been built. A system has been built. We have the standards, the staff and the style. That’s why we have a certain lead in Lebanon,” said Samia with pride. The new partnership will add to the many existing OCE initiatives that have for over a decade promoted and enabled student civic engagement, notably the ambitious Model United Nations program which has seen more than 2,000 LAU students train over 20,000 school students nationwide.

“The civic engagement at this university is the only thing that kept me in this country. Without it, I wouldn’t have hope,” said second year journalism student and MUN trainer Yasmina El Sabeh. “The potential I see in my students is the most important thing to me and the best reward.” El Sabeh first joined MUN hoping to overcome her shyness and improve her public speaking skills, but her training has become a long-lasting passion. “Working with youth is the best way to serve our community. The older generation lived through the war and is somewhat hopeless, whereas the youth still have the hope that this country needs. Seeing how others around me are willing to give as much as I am is very important in motivating me to stay and serve my country.”

The signing ceremony gathered LAU students, faculty and staff, and CIH representatives.

CIH aims at playing an influential role within the Lebanese community by contributing to its social and economic development.

The past year has seen a worrying escalation in the number of attacks perpetrated against Muslims in the U.S. Three Muslim students were shot dead in Chapel Hill, N.C., a woman was disfigured with a beer glass for not speaking English while others have been attacked for wearing the veil.

Following these and other events, Hanadi Shehabeddine, an LAU communications alumna, felt the compelling urge to speak up. “There isn’t a faith that terrorism has not filtered through,” she says, “I felt the need to clarify the questions and thoughts that people have on Islam.”

Shehabeddine left Lebanon for Minnesota when she met her husband, with whom she has three kids. Her first step as a bridge-builder between the Muslim and the non-Muslim communities was to invite parents from her kids’ school to her home, where she treated them to a traditional Lebanese fare and encouraged them to ask any questions on Islam.

“Americans have a sense of justice in them, they want to stand up for the rights of others. I capitalized on that and I began speaking up,” says Shehabeddine. Upon arrival in the U.S., she was fascinated by the freedom to practice one’s religion and the fact that anyone – religious or not, veiled or non-veiled – stood up for the rights of the other.

“In Lebanon, I was asked to take off my veil a couple of times, while this never happened in the U.S. Here it is your right to wear one and demand a place to pray,” she says.  In her view, American society is on the whole tolerant, and it is in fact the media that is largely responsible for stirring tensions between the communities. As its discourse tends to blindly associate Islam with terrorism, it gives rise to a sense of apprehension and distrust within the Muslim community that ultimately stems from propaganda rather than real-life episodes of discrimination.

This mutual mistrust prompted her to look for ways to promote dialogue and facilitate interaction. “We do not have channels to voice our opinions, so our only option is to organize grassroots initiatives,” says Shehabeddine, who volunteers as a speaker for the educational non-profit Islamic Resource Group.

Through them, she takes part in encounters where the public is invited to ask her about her faith. “At times they are afraid because they don’t want to offend me, but once they get going they are able to pose delicate questions, such as the Islamic view on the veil, the Sharia law, homosexuality and so on.”

Two years after her first speech, her message is beginning to reach a bigger audience. A prominent news outlet in Minnesota The Star Tribune featured an article about Shehabeddine’s outreach efforts last January and the Twin Public TV Network broadcasted an interview with her on one of their local programs.

“My message is that clashes between communities are never about religion. If you look at the Lebanese civil war, it was never about religion, it was about politics,” she says. “Maybe we can learn from this. I invite Americans to reach out to the Muslim community, because only by knowing each other can we overcome prejudice and mutual distrust.” 

Shehabeddine (fourth from right) at a Building Bridges awards ceremony.

Months after protests erupted across the country in response to the government’s failure to treat or dispose of the country’s garbage, the authorities have announced sketchy details of a plan to export the bags of waste which have continued to pile up under bridges and along riverbanks.

While many point the finger squarely at the corrupt ruling elite, LAU graduate and Dubai Music Week winner Xriss Jor believes the crisis is a reflection of something endemic in Lebanese society. “I wasn’t directing it at anyone in particular. I wasn’t even directing it at the politicians,” she says of her recent rendition of Michael Jackson’s ‘They Don’t Care About Us.’

The song was produced by music legend Quincy Jones and came at a time when Jor was feeling particularly frustrated. “There are problems with the way the country functions, not just the garbage,” says the communication arts graduate, whose video for the song was partly shot on Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square during the demonstrations of summer 2015.

“I just wanted to scream it out to everyone around me,” adds Jor, whose powerful vocals were well suited to the strong political statements of the song.  The lyrics, mostly unchanged, were peppered with the words “garbage”, “landfill” and “streets” to reflect Lebanon, its woes and the general outcry.

“Generally, people aren’t able to live like they want to,” she explains, referring to the line “If Lebanon were living, we wouldn’t let this be,” which she belts out at the end of one chorus. “People nag because they don’t want to pay taxes, but taxes are what make a country look nice and help people retire. Health insurance is too expensive for most people. The traffic in Lebanon is disgusting because people don’t know how to behave in their society,” says Jor, reeling off a list of grievances.

Months after the ‘You Stink’ movement began, encouraging thousands of citizens to protest en masse for the first time in many years, a solution to the garbage problem and the various ills facing people country-wide is still out of reach. “If we knew how to live then we’d know how to vote for the right people,” remarks Jor.

Despite her complaints and the theme and success of her debut single, the singer is reluctant to take on the label of activist. “I don’t want to be seen as an activist. I wrote this one because people were fed up. It’s not a random song that came up.”

Jor admires the likes of Ewan McGregor and Angelina Jolie, who use their fame to the advantage of others.  “I don’t think celebrities have a responsibility to do good, but I do admire Jolie’s humanitarian work and idolize her motivation,” says Jor, who herself likes to be idolized and enjoys the fame and attention her career afford her. “Being controversial makes people hate you. That’s the last thing I’d want to do. But I’ll definitely do something. I’m sure I’ll find something.”

A snapshot from Jor’s video clip filmed during one of the protests.

Thirty mothers, three fathers and no less than 50 Syrian children gathered with students from LAU’s Pharm.D. program at the Makhzoumi Foundation center in Beirut last week to learn about where, how and why children should be vaccinated.

“What illnesses can be prevented though vaccines?” asked Afif Brahim, a student of the School of Pharmacy’s accredited graduate program, who was at the center on an ambulatory care rotation.

A number of parents in the audience, many of whom had attended a previous talk about family planning also given by LAU students as part of their rotation, raised their hands or shouted out illnesses.

“With each talk we are building a stronger rapport with the community,” explains Clinical Assistant Professor, Ghada Khoury, who is responsible for the rotation that, as of three months ago, has included presentations and services delivered by students to beneficiaries of the Makhzoumi Foundation.

“This is a great opportunity for us to put into practice what we have learned in theory,” said Linda Khadra, one of the four students who participated in the day’s activities that began with a lecture and concluded with the provision of complementary vaccinations for all the children present.

“I have completed other rotations, but this is the first one that has brought me in contact with people from a low socio-economic level. This will help me grow in my community,” explained fellow student Samar Hayek.

“These experiences are essential, particularly in Lebanon, where pharmacists are on the front line and constantly interacting with patients, who often can’t afford to visit a doctor,” noted Khoury. “As such, this new collaboration with the Makhzoumi Foundation is exceedingly rewarding for both the community and our students.”

Program support officer at the foundation Dania Hajj Ali is also pleased with the partnership. “We are the only health care center to offer such talks to the community. We all benefit from them,” says Hajj Ali, referring to a recent lecture and training about medication reconciliation offered by the LAU students to the foundation staff. “Medication reconciliation is part of our accreditation system, so it was great for our staff and the benefits for the community are immediate.”

The Makhzoumi Foundation has for some time enjoyed a partnership with LAU’s School of Medicine and the expansion of the affiliation to include the School of Pharmacy has been extremely well received. “The service we’re being able to offer the community today is unique. Many of the Syrians, who joined us here today, have missed scheduled vaccinations. So, we LAU students are conducting full reviews of each patient to see how to help them,” said Hajj Ali during the vaccination program. “Academic partnerships are always invaluable.”

Students conducted full reviews of each patient to assess vaccination needs.

Afif Brahim addressing the patients.

LAU’s University Scholarship Program (USP), a USAID-funded initiative that covers scholars’ full tuition and related expenses, has recently received substantial funding toward its seventh cohort of students for what will be known as USP VII.

“The American government is contributing another $37.5 million to continue this successful program over the next three years. This will allow at least 320 additional students nationwide the opportunity to access a high quality education at either the Lebanese American University or the American University of Beirut,” explained interim American Ambassador Richard H. Jones at an LAU ceremony in January to celebrate the new funding.

The program, which launched in September 2010 in Lebanon, has benefited hundreds of top-performing students with severe financial needs from public schools across the nation.

Majd El Fakih, from Aley, is one of 237 current USP scholars at LAU who never imagined he would have the chance to experience a university education.

“USP has changed my life. I am a business student at the best business school in the Middle East. Now, my hope for a successful future and career has blossomed thanks to this scholarship,” said El Fakih in a speech he gave at the ceremony.

With many of the first cohort’s students having completed their studies, the success of the USP initiative has become clear.

“Graduates of LAU’s USP program hit the job running. They do so well once they leave us because of the series of supervision, coaching, monitoring, evaluation, and care that we give them,” commented LAU’s Assistant Vice President for Outreach and Civic Engagement, Elie Samia, who is involved with running the USP initiative.

USP scholars are selected based on merit, academic performance, and financial need. They benefit from full scholarship support including tuition fees, housing expenses, medical insurance, textbooks, a laptop, and a monthly stipend. All scholars are required to maintain academic excellence, actively engage in community service and leadership training, and take part in career preparation workshops.

Jones and Jabbra at the Annual Homecoming Reception.

“Do we all have the same concerns when it comes to our security?”

It is with this question that Kate Rougvie, a gender and security expert, kicked off another edition of Food4Thought, a series of talks launched in October by LAU’s Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW).

“At first they all said yes, but when I presented an overview of the relationship between security and gender, and explained how insecurities often differ depending on gender, I was pleased to see how receptive they were,” the speaker said of the students in attendance.

Security discourse, argues Rougvie, is grounded in masculine rather than feminine concerns. “Gender-based violence is a key security issue, but it’s not perceived as such because most, if not all decision makers, including for example those at the Ministry of Defense, are men.”

During her talk the researcher presented a video footage of women in the Internal Security Force undergoing training. “Security is defined and assured by men, so I wanted the students to consider the impact of increasing gender representation in the sector,” she explained. “I was pleased to hear the students express their belief that women are as capable and suited as men to work in the security sector,” she added.

Rougvie has spent the past three months with the institute as a visiting researcher. “I am pleased to have spent time in this great environment,” enthuses Rougvie, who is researching the relationship between security sector reform and gender, a topic she says is greatly under-researched both in the region and globally. She has for many years worked in the field of gender-based violence (GBV) in various countries, including the United States, Jordan, South Sudan and the Central African Republic where, two years ago, she met Lina Abirafeh, who has since joined LAU as director of IWSAW.

While in Lebanon, Rougvie has conducted both a literature review and interviews with security sector personnel, former bureaucrats and civil society representatives. In addition to its publication in an academic paper that Rougvie is writing for her master’s at the University of Queensland in Australia, her fieldwork has fed into an IWSAW program that involves training members of the Internal Security Force on GBV and gender responsiveness.

“As a visiting researcher, Kate has been a huge asset to the Institute. It is enriching not only for us but for LAU as a whole to gain from technical expertise of this caliber and to learn from the experiences of scholars from diverse backgrounds,” Abirafeh said.

“We have received magnificent support from LAU,” says Dr. Mona Ismail, dean of the Sultanate of Oman’s Scientific College of Design (SCD), characterizing the relationship between the university and the Muscat-based college. This past week, Ismail visited both the Beirut and Byblos campuses, meeting with LAU administrators in an effort to further deepen the ties between the two institutions.

Due to its status as a college, SCD is not entitled to offer graduate school programs which the Omani Ministry of Higher Education mandates can only be provided by the Sultanate’s universities. “Hence, we will be offering LAU master’s degrees in graphic design and management,” says Dr. Walid Touma, director of LAU’s University Enterprise Office (UEO) who is in charge of coordinating the engagement. During her visit, Ismail met with the LAU administration to “put in place the wheels for finalizing the applications in order to launch these two LAU programs in Fall 2017.”

LAU has been actively involved in the development of SCD since its inception in 2004, when the Omani side contracted with the university to extend academic coverage for the newly-created design school. According to Touma, for the past 12 years UEO, along with both LAU’s School of Architecture and Design and School of Arts and Sciences, has overseen a range of services that have included developing programs in Graphic Design, Interior Design, Fine Arts, and English, as well as guiding the quality of implementation, and the integration of the courses.

Ismail points out that the partnership has been beneficial to SCD on multiple levels. “The college has welcomed regular visits from LAU faculty members, conducting workshops, helping and assessing student work, and providing faculty development for our own instructors,” she explains.

As SCD has grown from a student body of 64 in 2004 to a campus hosting 1,400 students today, the relationship with LAU continues to grow at a dynamic pace. Together, “we have worked on adding three new programs to the roster of degrees at SCD, including Architecture, Photography and Animation,” says Ismail. While these curricula are run by SCD with various levels of support from LAU, the graduate degrees will be strictly issued and awarded by LAU, according to Touma.

Ismail is confident that the new LAU degrees are only “the beginning of a series of graduate programs” delivered on the SCD premises that LAU plans to introduce over the next few years. Touma shares the same vision of continuing and evolving this cooperation with the Gulf college. “The relationship that we have built and the trust we have in SCD are the pillars and the foundation for our going to Oman today. This is where we are very proud as we look forward to developing the relationship further.”

Twenty-one LAU students from across all majors and both campuses showed their love for debate on Valentine’s Day by choosing to spend their Sunday learning the art of verbal sparring.

“Mastering the art of debate enables students to develop their skills and knowledge and facilitates their transformation into elite student leaders,” says trainer Frederic Mourad. Enrolled in the Master’s in International Affairs at the School of Arts & Sciences, Mourad is himself a student leader in the Model Arab League, a cornerstone program of LAU’s Outreach and Civic Engagement office (OCE). “It also helps them develop a strong civic identity,” he adds.

At least eight of those who completed the full day’s training will this week participate in a debate about the sale of tobacco and alcohol to minors. This will be the first of four sessions to be held among LAU students before they join participants from other universities and youth movements across the country in national contests.

“We’re giving them the skills they need to prepare for a debate, to deliver and challenge arguments,” explains Ghina Harb, Leadership and Civic Engagement lead coordinator at the OCE, which is heading the initiative. “We will only tell them which side of the argument they’re defending an hour before each debate, so that the focus is on strengthening their polemic skills rather than expressing their personal beliefs,” adds Harb.

The LAU debates form part of a national program conducted by non-profit Masar, a member of a wider regional program entitled ‘Young Arab Voices,’ which is funded by the UK government’s Arab Partnership Initiative and the European Commission and run by the British Council and the Anna Lindh Foundation.

“This program is essential. The problem with discussion in the region has been that it is often based on emotion and philosophy. I think we need to encourage people to base their thoughts on facts,” says Tim Sebastian, host of ‘The New Arab Debates,’ in an interview published on the Young Arab Voices website.

“This is a big political season in this region and people are making a lot of promises. [The youth] need to know how to test that. With this training they are given an opportunity to do that.”

Young Arab Voices launched in 2011. After mobilizing over 35,000 in Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan in its first year alone, the program expanded to include Morocco, Libya and Algeria and, in 2015, Palestine and Lebanon. The Lebanon program began, in December, with an intensive Master Training of Trainers workshop, which Mourad and colleague Zeina Shehayeb attended alongside trainers from other universities and political youth groups.

“The program is very youth centered,” says Mourad. Youth voting rights, legal aid for minors and free medical treatment for AIDS patients are among the topics to be debated by LAU students in the coming weeks. “The topics selected are directly relevant to the youth of today and promote critical thinking and engagement.”

Young Arab Voices - Lebanon was launched in December 2015.

In response to the strain placed on the environment – globally but especially within Lebanon – and recognizing its moral obligation to strive for a sustainable future, LAU is implementing a series of eco-friendly practices on both campuses as set out in its Strategic Plan 2011-2016.

“We know how much waste is produced by an institution as big as LAU and it is our duty to minimize its impact on the environment,” says Georges Hamouche, assistant vice president for Facilities Management. “We want to become the leading institution in green initiatives.”

This visionary plan encompasses recycling schemes as well as sustainability and energy management. Under the banner of ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,’ LAU will initiate its waste management procedures by installing recycling bins expressly shipped from the U.S. to ensure that waste is disposed of in an environmentally-friendly way. The waste included in the recycling plan and the resources needed for an efficient implementation strategy were determined by a facilities’ waste stream analysis conducted on both campuses.

“On the other end and in order to give sense to its recycling campaign, LAU scanned the Lebanese market in search for a nonprofit charity organization to take on the job,” says Hamouche. “We finally partnered with L’Ecoute, a green-oriented charity that uses recycling initiatives to auto-finance its projects that serve people with disabilities,” he adds.

Going one step further, LAU is taking action, in conjunction with its affiliated medical center (LAUMC-Rizk Hospital), to dispose of hazardous waste and is seeking the possibility of collaborating with expert foreign partners for that purpose.

As part of the Sustainability Initiative, LAU has undertaken to reduce energy and water consumption on its campuses by implementing its very own construction design guidelines to upgrade older structures and construct sustainable buildings. These pilot projects entail highly-effective measures to reduce consumption while protecting the environment and providing indoor environmental quality. Accordingly, “the LAU community is showing its social responsibility for the challenges we have in our world,” says Roger Haddad, director of the Physical Plant at the Beirut campus.

To date, one of the fully-renovated buildings on the Byblos campus, the Tohme-Rizk building, was awarded the EDGE Certificate (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiency) by a World Bank affiliate, the International Finance Corporation – the first office building to receive such a distinction in Lebanon. EDGE indicated that the Tohme-Rizk Building’s resource-efficient design will result in reductions of 41% in energy, 29% in water, and 34% in materials’ embodied energy compared to local benchmarks.

Similarly, the Byblos Library and Central Administration Complex, which is currently under construction, is seeking the most prominent LEED-Gold certification by USGBC (the U.S. Green Building Council). 

To impress on the general public the importance of sustainability, LAU will install tools that facilitate the analysis and control of used resources to demonstrate the environmental impact of its consumption.

In addition to awareness posters disseminated across campuses and a video that has been shared on social media, a system of metering will monitor energy and water consumption throughout the university. The results will be posted on its website through a user-friendly graphic which alerts users to their wasteful habits and encourages them to be more careful.

“We cannot claim to be a leading university while we are polluting the environment,” says Ziad Haddad, director of the Physical Plant at the Byblos campus. “We simply cannot do without green initiatives.”

Facilities launched a water conservation awareness campaign across campuses.

Are you an outstanding student with a passion for going above and beyond? If your first year GPA is at least 3.5, the LAU Honors Program, the only one of its kind in Lebanon, could be just for you.

“Student-centeredness, which is at the core of LAU’s values, is the essence of the program,” says Director of Honors and Freshman Programs Sandra Rizk, who has been working hard to ensure that students who thrive on an extra challenge can have an enhanced academic experience.

“We wanted to get students who were already academically talented and design something where they can excel even more,” says Rizk, also an associate professor of biology in the Department of Natural Sciences.

Courses in the Honors Program, which are separate from regular courses, have a smaller student-to-instructor ratio that promotes active learning and encourages discussions, critiques, debates, research, and critical thinking.

There are also mandatory workshops that focus on soft skills, including decision-making, emotional intelligence and team building. Associate Professor Dany Badran led one of the workshops that took place recently on debating skills. “The kind of skills they learn are very much related to leadership, interviews, critical thinking, active listening, and working well within groups,” he explains, adding that such workshops are very practical and cover skills that are needed in “most jobs.”

Students qualify for the Honors Program if they complete their first year at LAU with a GPA of 3.5 or above. Eligible students are given an info session about the program and are invited to apply. However, Rizk is developing a set of criteria for high school students that allows them to request a place on the program in their admissions application to LAU.

Business, economics, architecture, political science, and biology are the five majors available in the Honors Program today. LAU plans to introduce additional majors based on student applications, and more importantly the feedback they receive from the students currently enrolled.

While the program’s inaugural semester was only last fall, it is already making an impact on its 91 students.

“The program provides a challenging classroom environment with a focus on self-development,” says Joseph El Haddad, an architecture major at LAU Byblos.

Associate Professor and Director of the Institute of Islamic Art and Architecture Abdallah Kahil, who has been teaching Honors students Islamic Art, finds similar satisfaction in the program. “It is thrilling to work with the students. The interaction is unique,” he says, also citing the benefits of having a smaller student-to-instructor ratio. “Islamic architecture is alien to most people but they express such enthusiasm that it is a pleasure to talk to them and answer their questions. This has really been a wonderful experience.”

Students qualify for the Honors Program if they complete their first year at LAU with a GPA of 3.5 or above.

Art is not just a hobby for LAU alumna Najat Bassma; it is her life.  In a world she calls “crazy,” art is her coping mechanism. “The brush strokes of infinite colors are the stories I want to tell in words I can’t even begin to form,” she enthuses.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at LAU in 2014, Bassma headed for London where she obtained her master’s degree in the same field from Chelsea College of Art. Like many other Lebanese young professionals, she did not expect to find herself back in Beirut.

“LAU contacted me when I was still living in London and informed me about the opportunity to work at the Aïshti Foundation.”

As art coordinator  for the foundation, which opened its doors to the public just last October, Bassma liaises and negotiates with artists from around the world in an effort to bring their contemporary art pieces to Lebanon.  That she is up to the job is evident in the inaugural exhibition, ‘New Skin,’ which features 160 artworks by “about 35 different artists from Europe, America, and Lebanon.”

Bassma often looks back at her time as a student at LAU, which she recalls fondly. “My favorite classes were Painting 4 and Senior Studies with Mr. Geitani and Mr. Chamoun,” says Bassma, who considers both instructors as “mentors” who played a crucial role in helping her find her “voice” as an artist. This was made possible not only by the vast information she gained from her studies, she adds, but also by the fact that instructors cared about their students’ development.

Contemporary art, Bassma stresses, is rich with diverse and fascinating aspects that need to be exposed in Lebanon. “Galleries should welcome artists from all over the world” to convey the broad scope of this flourishing medium. Equally, she says, collaboration between Lebanese and foreign artists is paramount as it “opens many doors for growth both in the local art scene and abroad.” Contrary to what most people believe, art is not restricted to the visual but incorporates non-visual elements as well, a misconception that she hopes to remedy over time.   

“Art can range from paintings and sculptures, to photographs, installations, audio, video, and even performances. It is my hope to expand and enrich the contemporary art scene in Lebanon.” 

Bassma hopes to expand the contemporary art scene in Lebanon.

In the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in the presence of U.S. universities and colleges in the Middle East, with many elite schools setting up outposts in the GCC countries.

With a population heavily skewed toward youth, higher education in the Middle East is a target for institutions’ global expansion plans. At the same time, a move away from pedagogical learning methods to more interactive teaching styles – the hallmark of American education – has become increasingly appealing and acceptable to governments in the region.

On January 28, LAU NY, in partnership with the American University in Cairo (AUC), hosted a panel discussion entitled “American Higher Education in the Middle East.”

It featured Safwan M. Masri, executive vice president for Global Centers and Global Development at Columbia University, and Ted Purinton, dean of the Graduate School of Education at AUC, and was moderated by Lina Beydoun, academic executive director at LAU NY.

Masri and Purinton discussed the merits and challenges of taking a product that is fundamentally American – liberal arts education – and trying to replicate it abroad.

“There’s the pursuit of exclusivity in higher education, and having a global presence makes a university exclusive,” said Purinton. “Every country wants one of these types of universities, they symbolize modernity … but they are the periphery of education, not the core.”

Factors like status, or economic needs of the respective country, have contributed to the proliferation of such schools, paving the way for institutions like Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, for example.

One pitfall of this trend, scholars say, is the conflicting interests and ambitions of Middle Eastern and U.S. educators. Another is the universities’ often limited ability to meet the education and job needs of the masses, most of whom cannot afford an elite education.

For his part, Masri elaborated on Columbia’s eight global centers, which are extensions of the university aimed at getting its students and faculty engaged in the world. 

He gave an example of a Columbia University political science professor, a lecturer in democracy building, who was able to design a unique course that took 15 students from the university, paired with 15 students from AUC, to study democracy building for two weeks in Tunisia and two weeks in Turkey, thanks to Columbia’s global centers in those countries.

Masri said that Columbia has purposely stayed away from opening a branch campus in the Middle East, even though the university was asked to do so by several entities.

“It's a very difficult model to sustain. It’s difficult to maintain quality faculty and the same level of education,” he explained. “After all, part of your experience at Columbia University is what you learn outside the classroom, in the wider campus that is New York City.”

Questions were also raised about the long-term sustainability of branch campuses of American institutions, such as Georgetown, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, and New York University, and how those outposts compare to historic institutions like LAU, AUB and AUC.   

From left: Masri, Purinton and Beydoun.

“Censorship is largely by omission, not commission,” said journalist and political activist David Barsamian to a diverse group of students, professors, and guests at LAU’s Adnan Kassar School of Business on February 19, brandishing a copy of the previous day’s New York Times. “The news we read today in American mainstream media doesn’t give any context,” Barsamian continued, likening it to little more than propaganda.

The fiery lecture, organized by LAU’s Armenian Club and the Department of Communication Arts, examined a disturbing disconnect between the actions of the United States government and how they are reported in mainstream media.

Barsamian invoked a wide variety of examples to illustrate this chasm between appearance and reality. Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan is seen as one of the nation’s finest presidents by many Americans, Barsamian argued, when he should be considered a war criminal. “Many problems in the Middle East today can be traced back to Reagan’s foreign policy in the 1980s,” he went on to say, showing a photograph of Reagan’s White House meeting with the Afghan mujahideen who would later participate in the formation of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. “Reagan referred to these men as ‘freedom fighters,’” Barsamian told the rapt crowd.

Citing more recent examples to make his point, Barsamian referred to an interview conducted by the U.S. government-sponsored Public Broadcasting Service with U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on American security and terrorism. The interview was a sham, said Barsamian, “there was a critical omission. The interviewer didn’t challenge any embedded assumptions; rather the assumptions were simply repeated over and over again.”

“The only choice given to the American people is how many troops should invade a country, not whether they should invade the country at all,” Barsamian remarked.

During a question and answer period, enthusiastic students turned the discussion toward issues immediately relevant to Lebanon. Asked about his views on the question of Palestine, Barsamian said “there’s no issue more distorted in the U.S. than Palestine,” a distortion especially apparent in the use of news photographs. “If an Israeli settler is killed,” he pointed out, “the image will be of the grieving parents,” whereas if a Palestinian is killed, an image of armed protestors will more likely be used instead.

The journalism entrepreneur, who runs the Alternative Radio news service, spoke eloquently, and optimistically, about Turkey’s denial of the Armenian genocide. Barsamian’s mother was one of the only children in her family to escape when the Turks came to her village, a few kilometers north of Diyarbakır in Eastern Turkey. On a trip last year to commemorate the centenary of the genocide, Barsamian reported seeing “cracks in the edifice” of Turkey’s denial. “More and more people are coming forward with new information,” he said.

As a final note, he reminded the crowd that “we can’t bring back those lives lost in Armenia. But we can turn our attention to the lives now being lost in Syria and Iraq.” 

Two members of the LAU community walked away with two of the top prizes of this year’s Mahmoud Kahil Award competition. “This is very good for Lebanon, because it means people are putting money into this field and supporting artists,” said Yasmine Taan, LAU associate professor of graphic design, of the awards handed out at the recent gala dinner.

Azza Hussein, an instructor in digital media, drawing and sketching at the university’s School of Architecture & Design, won first prize in the “Children’s Book Illustration” category. “I feel honored, happy and grateful for this recognition of the work I have done since I started illustrating children's books,” said Hussein. “This award inspires me to continue doing what I'm doing.”

LAU alumnus Bahij Jaroudi, who holds a degree in graphic design (B.A., ‘03), received the top accolade in the category of “Graphic Illustration.” After graduating from LAU, Jaroudi found himself “attracted to drawing” and went on to work as an animator for Future TV while developing a substantial body of illustrative work, some of which can be found on his blog. 

The competition was held as part of the Mu’taz and Rada Sawwaf Arabic Comics Initiative at the American University of Beirut (AUB), in honor of Mahmoud Kahil, a leading cartoonist and caricaturist of the Arab World. The allocation of both prizes, which included monetary awards of $10,000, was subject to a rigorous selection process.

The director of the initiative, Associate Professor of Graphic Design at AUB Lina Ghaibeh, is herself an LAU alumna, who published her first comics work while a student at LAU. “I am proud to be an alumna,” she enthused, going on to describe the intense competition for this year’s Mahmoud Kahil awards. “Almost 300 professional comics and illustration artists and cartoonists participated,” Ghaibeh said, “and over 900 art works were submitted” for consideration from 11 Arab countries.

Jury member George Khoury, who teaches courses in graphic design at LAU, was impressed by the fact that two of the five prizes went to entrants from the university community. Commending “the open environment and the seriousness of the program,” he noted that these were graduate students “who [were] successful in professional life.”

According to Taan, the success of Hussein and Jaroudi puts the Department of Design in a strong position as the university prepares to launch a master’s in visual narrative. Their achievements “underline the demand for such a program,” which is currently in the planning stages and expected to be launched in the fall of 2016.

As part of the continuing exploration of comic arts at LAU and the build-up toward the launching of the M.A. in visual narrative, the Department of Design is organizing a panel on April 7 on censorship in comics, focusing on how comic artists approach taboo issues.

Bahij Jaroudi studied graphic design at LAU. He received the “Kitabi” prize for Arab children’s literature in 2012.

Apart from teaching and working as a freelance illustrator, Azza Hussein is a visual artist working with performance, installation and painting.

For five years now, Interprofessional Education (IPE) – whereby students from different disciplines come together to learn from each other’s experiences – has been a mandatory component of LAU’s curricula in nutrition, medicine, pharmacy, nursing and social work. In spring 2016, a new initiative will be launched to bring IPE out of the classroom, providing students with hands-on experience and benefiting the community at large.

“Students told us they would like to apply their IPE skills to real life,” said Nadine Zeeni, assistant professor of nutrition and coordinator of the IPE project. “So we put out a call and the faculty responded to it.” As a result, faculty from all five programs will lead students in a total of three clinical IPE activities this semester, combined with two events that will bring health information to the community in an interdisciplinary way.

According to Rita Doumit, assistant professor in the School of Nursing and lead faculty on the clinical IPE activity recently held at LAU’s University Medical Center-Rizk Hospital (LAU MC-RH), “studies have shown that collaborative practice is contributing to safer and more cost-effective and patient-centered care.” In fact, she went on, “interprofessional teamwork has helped decrease medical errors and improve patient satisfaction.”

For Mira Boutros, a student in LAU’s Nutrition and Dietetics-Coordinated Program who participated in one of the sessions at LAU MC-RH, the welfare of the patient is the ultimate reason for engaging in IPE. “At the end of the day, we all care about the patient,” she said. “To avoid making mistakes and help the patient,” maximizing communication between the different professionals (nurses, doctors, pharmacists, nutritionists and social workers) involved is essential.

During the clinical sessions at LAU MC-RH, students from the five disciplines teamed up to evaluate real-life patient cases. Boutros collaborated with four others on a surgery case during which “the surgery resident asked us, the nutritionists, what we could recommend as a diet for the patient,” she said. Zeina Mhanna, a nursing student, also experienced first-hand the importance of interprofessional cooperation for optimizing patient outcomes. “In our group, a discussion between the different professionals led us to figure out that the patient was getting the wrong dose of medication,” something that doctors might not catch on their own.

In addition to the February 12 session and an earlier clinical activity held at LAU MC-RH on January 29, students will have the opportunity to work across disciplines at the Clinical Simulation Center on the Byblos campus later in the semester. Forthcoming community-oriented IPE activities will include informational sessions in which students will educate members of the public about osteoporosis (at ABC-Dbayeh, on March 19) and diet pills and weight loss (at the Byblos Souks, on April 2).

“This year is a pilot year for IPE outside the classroom,” said Zeeni. “But it is a long-term program, and we plan to add more sessions next year.”

In addition to clinical activities, future community-oriented IPE activities will include informational sessions about osteoporosis (at ABC-Dbayeh, on March 19) and diet pills and weight loss (at the Byblos Souks, on April 2).

The link between culture and peace is held in great consideration by LAU, whose guiding principles are civic engagement and the betterment of society. It is no surprise, then, that several members of the university community participated in the SOS (Save Our Souls) ART exhibition, hosted by UNESCO from February 19 to 25.

SOS ART has existed since 2003, created by Cincinnati-based Lebanese Saad Ghosn. Together with other artists, he originally conceived the idea of an art exhibition that would unite artists around the theme of peace and justice in the aftermath of 9/11.

“There was a climate of fear in the U.S. and many artists felt isolated,” Ghosn says, “so we thought of creating a venue where they could express what they thought was missing.” Given the unstable regional climate, Ghosn’s decision to introduce the concept to his country of origin this year is more than logical.

The event at UNESCO welcomed all forms of art, ranging from painting and sculpture to theater and poetry. A panel discussion, facilitated by LAU’s Assistant Professor of Political Science Makram Ouaiss, tackled the issue of poverty in Lebanon and its impact on peace and justice. 

“There are many social problems left by the war and we have to remind Lebanon that our struggle has not yet ended,” says Ouaiss, ex-coordinator of the pro-peace coalition of 29 nongovernmental organizations Wahdatouna Khalasouna (Our Unity is Our Salvation), which supported the realization of SOS Art. “At a time in which the region is hemorrhaging, the voices of peace should be louder than guns.”

One of the most incisive pieces was presented by LAU student Liane Mathes Rabbath, a well-regarded visual artist based in downtown’s Galerie Ghandour. Her metal installation, entitled The Dress of Hope, depicts two separate sides of the same dress. One of them bears the scars of bullets, while the other one those of the gravel. “The idea is that these two sides can be reunited and form the perfect union between peace and justice,” says Rabbath.

Among the exhibitors was also artist and LAU fine arts instructor Zeina Badran, who presented a powerful painting that captures the emotions of the 2006 Israeli invasion, as well as 17 etching prints of a hand, representing the theme of healing. “The repetition of elements represents the passage of time, while the gauze that connects them is the heartbeat and the vector of healing,” says Badran. The hand, purposefully represented with an open palm, is a clear invitation to put an end to violence and conflict.

Fine arts third-year student Lara Tannir also joined forces in sending out a message of peace. Her 3D collage personifies injustice as a face, distorted into a scream as the hands of other people pull a rope around its neck.

The exhibition inspired the public to think more deeply about the meaning of peace and injustice, and provided artists with an occasion to connect and benefit from each other’s work. 

“The idea behind SOS ART is to establish a local community of artists who want to use their work to contribute to the betterment of society,” says Ghosn. “Artists can talk about a world that is different,” says Ghosn, “and, through this message of hope, conquer people’s hearts.”

Alumna Ilat Knayzeh’s Reversing Oppression.

The big bad wolf by Lee Frederix, assistant professor at the Department of Fine Arts and Foundation Studies.

Fine Arts instructor Zeina Badran stands next to Fortitude, monoprint on the right, and Summer 2006, acrylic on canvas on the left.

Fine arts student Lana Tannir’s united for justice.

Liane Mathes Rabbath presents her Dress of Hope.

The Internet has no doubt been revolutionary, but, say an increasing number of observers and academics, it has not been the instigator of recent protest movements, despite many having been labeled “Facebook revolutions.”

While Internet-based platforms and technologies have certainly provided powerful resources for activists, Tamirace Fakhoury, associate director of LAU’s Institute for Social Justice and Conflict Resolution, says the euphoria around Internet activism has died down. “In assessing the outcomes of activist platforms, I agree with sociologist Manuel Castell. You can’t perceive Internet activism as a finality in itself. You need boots on the ground,” she specifies.

In December 2011, thousands of people took to the streets across Tunisia to demand an end to the 21-year rule of Zine el-Abdine Ben Ali. In the immediate aftermath of the fall of his regime on January 14,  2011, newspapers and magazines the world over were writing about “the first Wikileaks revolution.” The whistleblower website had, starting the previous November, been publishing memos and cables written by the U.S. embassy in Tunisia that detailed prevalent corruption within the regime.

“Certainly you can see Wikileaks as a catalyst to the uprising, but it was only one of many. By now many academics have shown that grievances did not break out in 2010, they had been building up,” says Fakhoury, noting that Wikileaks was one of a number of platforms that enabled information and grievances to become accessible to the broader public.

“Internet technologies are a valuable resource in connecting people and providing platform for coordinating, and are currently part of most activists’ repertoires,” adds Fakhoury, who has for four years taught a summer semester course on media and global protest movements at the University of California-Berkeley. “However, these repertoires change over time depending on technology. It used to be the radio; now the Internet is an instrument of innovation; in the future it may be something else that is not Internet based.”

Despite its usefulness, the Internet also has a number of drawbacks. It can and has been used by dictatorial regimes to track and entrap activists. What is more, it has also been used by said regimes and their supporters in much the same way as activists have used it, to promote their own agendas.

“Online platforms invariably disperse the voice of a movement and present sentiments that are made on the spot, whereas successful movements rely on strong synergies and research and strategy,” adds Fakhoury, who recently conducted a related study of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The garbage crisis in Lebanon, she says, is a case in point. “It revealed how much we need well prepared strategies and a way of action that isn’t based on the heat of the moment or online sentiment that is enthusiastic, angry or full of resentment.”

Despite this, Fakhoury was at first surprised to learn that a survey completed recently by faculty at the Adnan Kassar School of Business revealed that 65 percent of youth in Lebanon have never visited a blog or website related to activism or human rights. “Looking at postwar social fatigue in Lebanon may explain it. People don’t believe anything is possible. Youth show a great deal of skepticism and are disenchanted.”

Might the Internet spur them toward change or even revolution? “The political impact of the Internet should not be exaggerated,” concludes Fakhoury. “Far more important to the success of a movement is the ability of activists to effectively use the Internet, their programs, continuity in their political platform and the ideas they propose, and their interactions with the political system and the international community. These are the factors that have been proven to be of most importance.”

The Egyptian uprising is often referred to as the “Facebook revolution”.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Student Chapter, which was awarded the prize for the most active student club at LAU last year, has once again exhibited its energetic drive. 

The annual retreat designed to bring together LAU engineering students and alumni was held in the Cedars last week. The increasingly popular two-day event, launched three years ago, allows students to attend at least one formal seminar or presentation given by a senior engineer or faculty on a major civil engineering project.

“The idea of the reunion came about because it is extremely beneficial to strengthen the bonds among engineering students and between them and professionals in the field,” said student Najib Zgheib, president of the ASCE club. “We are part of a community, therefore it is fundamental to interact and keep in touch.”

Thanks to the hard work of Zgheib and to the support of LAU and external sponsors – Dunkin Donuts and the Geotechnical Foundation Experts – the initiative drew around 80 participants.

Before reaching the northern mountains, the group stopped at the Order of Engineers in Tripoli where its president, Marius Beaini, hosted an in-depth discussion on the workings of the order and its membership requirements.

The information delivered by Beaini was particularly useful to the students graduating this fall who will be the first ones to take the new exam recognized by the order.

“We were given some very helpful advice that I will keep in mind when I prepare for the exam,” said Mireille Salim Fadous, a final year engineering student.

The interaction with LAU alumni who recently began their careers also provided the students with insight into what to expect after graduation. “We asked them lots of questions about their job interviews, the best courses to take at LAU, their experience with their current companies and so on,” said Stephanie Mansour, also a final year engineering student who participated in the event for the first time. “I feel this experience has created a sense of brotherhood among students.”

The Civil Engineering department supports the ASCE Chapter activities by providing speakers, conference rooms, or trip subsidies while the LAU student services office takes charge of the students’ transportation and insurance.

The board members of the chapter – the main drivers behind the event – are elected annually by all members and tasked with setting up a plan for the year in collaboration with Assistant Professor John Khoury, their faculty advisor. Such plan includes lectures, field trips, seminars, an annual retreat and an annual dinner to conclude the academic year.

“Extracurricular activities relieve the stress on students and help them further enjoy their stay at LAU. This can contribute to better academic achievements while also building a strong bond among students that can improve team spirit and campus life,” said Khoury. “LAU’s vision is not only to develop technically skilled professionals, but also socially active alumni and leaders of the future and it’s through such activities that students learn the importance of social engagement in their future careers.”

Extracurricular activities relieve the stress on students and help them further enjoy their stay at LAU, says professor John Khoury.

The students at the Order of Engineers in Tripoli.

Journalism majors are always itching to get out of the classroom and start reporting, fully aware that  while learning in the classroom is essential, the ultimate experience lies both on and off campus. For six LAU journalism students, this came true last December at the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) three-day conference in Amman, Jordan, where they mingled with professional journalists from across the region and the globe, and attended a series of seminars, workshops and film screenings on various topics in investigative journalism.

The trip took place within the framework of a memorandum of understanding signed between LAU and ARIJ in 2014 which led to the implementation of a curriculum for LAU’s Investigative Journalism class developed by renowned journalist and academic Mark Lee Hunter.

The students, who were selected randomly to attend the conference, traveled with LAU instructor and ARIJ media coach and trainer Bissane El-Cheikh. The seasoned journalist and editor of Al-Hayat said, “I wanted them to mingle with professional journalists to see how it [investigative journalism] is done.” The conference, she believes, was exceedingly beneficial to the eager students who were inspired to take their reporting and writing to a whole new level. As an example, El-Cheikh stated proudly, two of her students, Rana Bou Saada and Hala Nasreddine, published an investigative piece on Global Young Voices about “disabilities laws that are not being implemented in Lebanon.”

LAU senior, Dania Hawat, due to graduate this summer with a B.A. in communication arts with an emphasis on journalism, described the conference as “inspiring,” and said it was critical for future students to attend such events. “Three workshops would happen simultaneously, so [to make the most of it] we decided to have two students attend one workshop. That way, we could share notes and have greater access to information.”

For fellow senior Safa Hamzeh the “workshops supplemented class material very well.” Subsequently, she submitted an investigative piece on torture as her final project to El-Cheikh, who found it “very impressive.”

ARIJ’s current chairman, LAU Assistant Professor in journalism and media studies Yasmine Dabbous, expressed her enthusiasm at the students’ and instructor’s feedback. But why is investigative journalism so important for future writers in Lebanon and in the Middle East? “When investigative journalism flourishes, we move from dependent, lapdog journalism to a watchdog press,” she said.

The students got the opportunity to network with professional journalists and experts in the field.