Check Archive

October 2009

•  Campus Watch of October 2 announced that Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, will be delivering Mount Holyoke College's Lax Lecture, entitled, "The Long Twentieth Century: The View from the Middle East". Khalidi is a graduate of Yale and Oxford universities, he taught at the AUB and the University of Chicago. He now works at Columbia University. Full article available at: http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/8455
• PR.com of October 5, Business Intelligence Middle East, 24-7 PressRelease, and MENAFN of October 4, and Newswire of October 3 reported that the Beirut Arab University has joined the likes of AUB and the American University in Dubai in adopting the UniversiTools Classroom Scheduler and Alternative Scheduler in devising student schedules for the fall 2009 semester. Full article available at: http://www.pr.com/press-release/183196
•  Australia.To of October 5 reported on the role of the Christian community in Lebanon in the formation of a new government. It noted that the Christian ranks in the country have been divided between those supporting the pro-western March 14 bloc and the opposition led by the militant group Hizbullah. "The pluralism of the Christian street - in theory excellent - has weakened the community because of the Lebanese political context, where power is coalesced within the dominant Shiite and Sunni communities," said Hilal Khashsan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut. Full article available at: http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11596:lebanon-how-not-to-oppose-an-opposition&catid=89:reports&Itemid=304
• Arizona State University of October 5 reported that Rami G. Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, will be delivering a lecture at Arizona State University (ASU) on October 15 entitled, "Real Conflicts and Imagined Threats: Religion, Conflict and the Future of the Middle East." His lecture is part of ASU's Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict's "Religion and Conflict: Alternative Visions" lecture series. Full article available at: http://asunews.asu.edu/node/9988
• Campus Watch and Congoo of October 11 reported on a conference on Arab feminism that was recently held at AUB and featured speakers from various universities and centers, such as Howard University in the United States and the Center for the Advanced Study of the Arab World in the United Kingdom. Full article available at: http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/8513
• Anderson Cooper 360 of October 14 reported on the current state of affairs of women in the Arab world. It noted that women are denied several rights and barely have a voice in a male-dominant world. The article observed however that there are emerging voices that are challenging this reality through the formation of feminist groups. It said that one such group, the Lebanese Association of Women Researchers 'Bahithat', recently organized at AUB a conference on Arab feminism that brought together women from across the Middle East. Full article available at: http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/14/women-bloggers-gays-lead-change-in-the-arab-world/
• Individual.com of October 19 reported on a conference and workshop that was recently held at AUB and focused on social cohesion among individuals of various religious and ethnic backgrounds in Lebanon. The conference was organized by the Center for Lebanese studies, based at St. Antony's College, University of Oxford and co-hosted by AUB's Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs. Full article available at: http://www.individual.com/story.php?story=108648636
• The Item of Millburn and Short Hills of October 21 announced the marriage of Sarah Elizabeth Smiles and John Meredith Persinger in Sydney, Australia. Smiles holds a master's degree in Middle Eastern Studies from AUB. Full article available at: http://www.theitemonline.com/NC/0/2636.html
• Business Intelligence Middle East of October 26 reported on a conference that was held in Beirut entitled, "Current Challenges in Adolescent and Child Nutrition." The conference was organized by the Lebanese Association for Nutrition and Food Sciences (LANFS) in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Food Sciences at the American University of Beirut. Dr. Nahla Hwalla, President of LANFS and Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at AUB said, "The conference brought together a group of well-known experts in the field of adolescent and child nutrition, who shared their latest studies on many recurring challenges." Full article available at: http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=41414&t=1&c=13&cg=3&mset=1111
• The Guatemala Times of October 27 published an article by Paul Salem, Director of the Carnegie Middle East Center, Beirut, on the need to support education in the Middle East in order to tackle underdevelopment. He observed, "What the West has most, and what the Arab world most needs, is education. It requires more schools and fewer guns; more universities and fewer aircraft carriers. The American University of Beirut, founded in 1866, has arguably done more to transform the Middle East in positive ways than any other comparable institution, yet it receives only $3 million in annual aid from the United States, which spends billions on armies and weaponry in the region." Full article available at: http://www.guatemala-times.com/opinion/syndicated-2/islam-and-the-world/1225-learning-to-leave-extremism-.html