LAU graduates 1,381 students at Beirut, Byblos campuses

14 July 2008

BEIRUT: The Lebanese American University's two campuses in Beirut and Byblos graduated 1,381 students on Thursday and Saturday. Among those in attendance were several representatives of President Michel Sleiman, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

The commencement exercises in Beirut began with a speech by LAU president Joseph Jabbra. He noted the progress that LAU has made toward several of its financial, academic, and professional goals, in accordance with its five-year strategic plan that it implemented in September 2005. According to Jabbra, the plan "gave our university a renewed sense of purpose."

"We have adopted the best practices in student recruitment, kept tuition increases low, increased ... financial aid to over $10,000,000 ... [and] attracted brilliant students," he added.

Jabbra also detailed the progress the university was making toward achieving full certification with an American accreditation agency, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. According to Jabbra, LAU received accreditation candidacy confirmation in September 2007, and he said he felt "very strongly" that LAU would receive full accreditation in 2009. Jabbra also described the progress toward enrollment at the new LAU Gilbert and Rose Marie Chagoury School of Medicine; by next year, students from the pre-med undergraduate program will begin enrolling in the new medical school.

At the Byblos campus graduation, an honorary doctorate was awarded to businessman and banker Francois Bassil. In his acceptance speech, Bassil described some of the current challenges faced by the Lebanese state and its populace, including his sentiment that Lebanese citizens "[do] not belong to the nation, but [are] still confined to the family and sect."

He also spoke specifically about the forces prompting well-educated Lebanese youth to emigrate, and called instead for a "government in which the youth finds a promising future," within Lebanon.

According to Bassil, that goal can be reached if university graduates hold fast to the "humanitarian, national, and moral values which they've learned."

Beirut campus valedictorian Siwar Zein drew parallels between her class' tumultuous journey and the journey Lebanon and Beirut have taken over the past four years.

She noted that exactly two years earlier to the day, the summer 2006 war with Israel began. "It makes complete sense," she mused, saying: "It is such an occasion that brings light to the darkest of times."

The joy of graduation helps the students "overcome the sorrows of yesterday," and "arise like the famous phoenix."

At the Beirut campus graduation, an honorary doctorate was awarded to Adnan Kassar, the president of the Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture for Arab Countries. In his speech, Kassar spoke of the mixed feelings that inevitably come with such a momentous day in students' lives. He too drew connections between the graduating class' moment in time and moment in Lebanese political history, saying: "It is natural to have mixed feelings of joy, accomplishment, and fear of the unknown on a day like this."

He finished by calling on all the students to "keep Lebanon in your hearts and minds, and try to participate - each from your respective position, in the country's progress, development, and national unity."

The Beirut campus awarded diplomas to 220 graduates of the School of Arts and Sciences, 709 graduates of the School of Business, and 27 graduates of the School of Engineering and Architecture. Meanwhile, the Byblos campus awarded diplomas to 97 graduates of the School of Arts and Sciences, 100 graduates of the School of Business, 119 graduates of the School of Engineering and Architecture, and 103 students of the School of Pharmacy.

The Beirut campus also granted a certificate of academic achievement to the family of Hala George Haddad, who passed away shortly before graduation.