American University of Beirut

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Coordinates: 33°53′59.87″N 35°28′56.22″E / 33.8999639°N 35.4822833°E / 33.8999639; 35.4822833

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American University of Beirut
الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت
Motto: That they may have life and have it more abundantly.
Established: 1866
Type: Private
President: michael karadsheh
Provost: Ahmad Dallal
Staff: 606 full-time instructional faculty
Students: 7,572 (2008-09)
Undergraduates: 6,221
Postgraduates: 1,351
Location: Lebanese flag Beirut, Lebanon
Campus: Urban, 73 acre; and AREC (Agricultural Research and Education Center), a 247-acre research farm and educational facility in the Beqa'a Valley
Website: www.aub.edu.lb

The American University of Beirut (AUB; Arabic: الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت‎) is a private, independent, secular university in Beirut, Lebanon. It was founded as the Syrian Protestant College by American missionary Daniel Bliss in 1866. The name was changed to the American University of Beirut on November 18, 1920. The university is popularly known as AUB.

Although AUB’s student body is primarily Lebanese, almost one-fifth of its students attended secondary school or university outside of Lebanon before coming to AUB.

AUB launched its YouTube Educational Channel in February 2008, following in the footsteps of universities such as UC Berkeley and MIT AUB Channel.

On March 21, 2008, the Board of Trustees selected Peter Dorman to be AUB's 15th president. He succeeded Dr. John Waterbury who was president of AUB from 1998 to 2008. Dr. Dorman is an international scholar in the field of Egyptology and formerly chaired the University of Chicago's Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

As of June 2008, the total number of degrees and diplomas awarded totaled 76,439.

AUB enjoys a rich student activism. Many clubs have gained popularity not only in AUB, but on the national level, among them the Secular Club at AUB which now is well known in Lebanon. The student activities that take place in AUB is usually given much attention by Lebanese and foreign media, in addition to the different intellectual debates and events.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1862 American missionaries in Lebanon and Syria, under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, asked Dr. Daniel Bliss to establish a college of higher learning that would include medical training. On April 24, 1863, while Dr. Bliss was raising money for the new college in the United States and England, the State of New York granted a charter for the Syrian Protestant College. The college, which was renamed the American University of Beirut in 1920, opened with a class of 16 students on December 3, 1866. Dr. Bliss served as its first president, from 1866 until 1902.

AUB alumni have had a broad and significant impact on the region and the world for many years. For example, 19 AUB alumni were delegates to the signing of the United Nations Charter in 1945 – more than any other university in the world. AUB graduates continue to serve in leadership positions as presidents of their countries, prime ministers, members of parliament, ambassadors, governors of central banks, presidents and deans of colleges and universities, businesspeople, engineers, doctors, teachers, and nurses. They work in governments, the private sector, and in nongovernmental organizations.

The University is governed by a private, autonomous Board of Trustees and offers programs leading to the bachelor’s, master’s, MD, and PhD degrees.

[edit] Campus

Part of the upper campus as seen from Penrose dormitory

The 73 acre AUB campus is on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on one side and bordering Bliss Street on the other. .

[edit] Faculties and Schools

[edit] Research

In 2007, AUB re-introduced PhD programs in 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 as well as Theoretical Physics.

[edit] Student Activism

In AUB there are tens of student organizations that hosted many controversial events, given the atmosphere of Lebanon. Many student organizations had popularity that allowed it to play a role not only in AUB but on the national level. Freethoughts Society for example, was the first student organization in the Arab World that organize an event for gay rights and homosexuality issues. In addition, the Secular Club was an example of an AUB student organization that had a very important influence in making Lebanese students adopt concepts of secularism and separating religion from the political space. Many foreign, Arab, and Lebanese newspapers covered the rise of secularist values and organizations in the American University of Beirut. The case of AUB showed an example of the strong rise of secular thoughts in an Arabic atmosphere.

[edit] Medical Center

The AUB Medical Center (AUBMC) is the private, all-for-profit teaching center of the Faculty of Medicine. AUBMC, which is accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCIA) on hospital accreditation, includes a 420-bed hospital and offers comprehensive tertiary/quaternary medical care and referral services in a wide range of specialties and medical, nursing and paramedical training programs at undergraduate and post-graduate level. Since 1905, AUB’s medical services have included a nursing school. In 2008, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) invited AUB’s Rafic Hariri School of Nursing to become a full member, making it the first member of the AACN outside the United States. The American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC) Magnet Recognition ProgramR awarded AUBMC its prestigious Magnet designation on June 23, 2009. AUBMC is the first healthcare institution in the Middle East and the third in the world outside the United States to receive this award.

[edit] Fundraising

Looking northwest across the campus towards the Mediterranean Sea.

In October 2002, AUB launched a five-year $150 million fund raising campaign called the Campaign for Excellence to celebrate its 140th anniversary in 2006-07. The University raised more than $17

million during the campaign, which ended in December 2007, to upgrade its facilities, strengthen academic programs, enhance faculty recruitment, and increase its financial aid budget.

[edit] Accreditation

Degrees awarded by the American University of Beirut are officially registered with the Ministry of Higher Education in Lebanon and with the Board of Education in the State of New York. AUB was granted institutional accreditation in June 2004 by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

In September 2006, the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) acted to accredit the University’s Graduate Public Health Program in the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS). The AUB Graduate Public Health Program is the first CEPH accredited public health program outside the North American continent.

The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accredited AUB’s School of Nursing for five years beginning October 13, 2007.

The Faculty of Engineering and Architecture is preparing for accreditation from the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET).

In April 2009, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) granted the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business initial accreditation. AACSB is the leading international accrediting agency for undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degree programs in business administration and accounting. Less than five percent of business schools worldwide have earned AACSB International accreditation.[1]

[edit] Violence

The reconstructed College Hall at AUB

There have been several incidents of violence on the campus of AUB.

On June 19, 1982, "the president of the American University in Beirut, David S. Dodge was kidnapped. Foreign special services are believed to be behind this abduction and that of most of the other 30 Westerners seized over the next 10 years."[2] Dr. Malcolm Kerr, the ninth president and father of Steve Kerr, was assassinated on January 18, 1984. On November 8, 1991, AUB's main administration building, College Hall, was badly damaged by a bomb that toppled its famous clock tower. The building had to be demolished and rebuilt. The new College Hall was inaugurated in the spring of 1999. [3] The dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture (Raymond Ghosn) and the dean of Student Affairs (Robert Najemy) were assassinated on February 17, 1976 by an irate student, Najim Najim. The Engineering building now carries the name of Dean Ghosn.[citation needed]

[edit] Alumni

AUB graduates have attained prominent positions in many fields including government, science, economics, business and medicine. AUB graduates are prominent in Lebanese politics: former Prime Minister Saeb Salam and former Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Adil Osseiran, who were leaders of the independence movement after the French mandate, were AUB graduates. Other famous politicians include Prime Ministers Selim al-Hoss, Najib Mikati and Fouad Siniora, in addition to many ministers and members of parliament. AUB also played an important role as the breeding ground for Arab thinkers such as Syrian scholar Constantin Zurayk and founder of the Syrian Social Nationalist PartyAntun Saadeh. Famous politicians include former Palestinian minister Hanan Ashrawi, Syrian anti-French nationalist of the 1920s and 1930s Abdul Rahman Shahbandar, former Syrian president Nazim al-Kudsi and Syrian prime minister Faris al-Khoury, who was also an instructor at AUB. The Syrian poet Omar Abu Risheh is an AUB graduate and so is the Syrian novelist Ghada al-Samman.

Notable alumni (in alphabetical order) are:

[edit] Notable Faculty

  • Albert Hourani, one of the most prominent scholars of Middle Eastern history for much of the second half of the 20th century
  • Charles Malik, diplomat and scholar, major intellectual contributor to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • John Waterbury, president of the university and professor of Political Science, former chairman of the department of Political Science at Princeton University
  • Malcolm Kerr, political scientist
  • Elias Khoury, novelist and historian, author of Gate of the Sun
  • Tarif Khalidi, author and renowned Islamic Studies scholar, holder of Sheikh Zaid Chair of the Center for Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies (CAMES)
  • Lina Choueiri, linguist
  • Peter Dorman
  • Samir Seikaly
  • Sadek el Azem
  • Mounir Bashshour
  • Nawaf Salam, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations [1]

[edit] Former Students

Nineteen former AUB students were delegates to the signing of the United Nations Charter in 1945.[4]

Among former students are Elias Furzeli, member of the Lebanese Parliament and former Deputy Parliamentary Speaker as well as Ismael al-Azahari, a former Prime Minister of Sudan.

[edit] References

  1. ^ OSB joins ranks of 5 percent of business schools in the world with AACSB accreditation, AUB News Highlights (Official Press Release)
  2. ^ Ini, Gilead. "Timeline of Hezbollah Violence." On Campus Fall 2006: 13-14
  3. ^ History of the American University of Beirut, AUB, Lebanon
  4. ^ http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~sci_info/News_from_ICTP/News_98/features_CAMS.html

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_University_of_Beirut"
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