News Highlights
Author:
Maha Al-Azar,
Media Relations Officer,
Office of Information and Public Relations,
ma110@aub.edu.lb
 Who is on the Scholarship Fundraising Committee?:
The Scholarship Fundraising Committee, previously the College Hall Fundraising Committee which was created in response to the attack which levelled College Hall in 1991, assumed its new mandate in 2000.
In 2003-04, the Scholarship Fundraising Committee established a new endowed scholarship fund through a donation of $125,000 which it raised during the year.
The committee consists of a group of dedicated alumni and friends whose names are listed here: Hanna Ayoub, George Azar, Imad Baalbaki, Mohammed Baalbaki, Randa Bdeir, Nadim Dimashqiyeh, Kulthum Salam Husseini, Jamil Iskandar, Mona Jeha Kanaan, Layla Alamuddin Karami, Leila Khalaf, Mounir el-Khatib, Youssef A.Lahoud, Michel Maalouly, Khalil Makkawi, Fawzi Maalouf, Jamil Mroueh, Nabil Nassar, Mohammed Shatila, Jihad Al-Shawwaf Razian, Youssef Rishani and Nazih Zeidan.
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AUB launches $1 million campaign for scholarships
 | Waterbury, Baalbaki and Makkawi listen to Nursing student Diana Ohanian, a scholarship recipient.
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American University of Beirut President John Waterbury said on January 27, 2005 that the University hopes to double its expenditure on financial aid to reach $15 million in the near future.
The first step towards achieving that goal was made during a press conference held at the Press Syndicate, where Scholarship Fundraising Committee President H.E. Ambassador Khalil Makkawi announced the launching of a campaign to raise $1 million for scholarships., in the presence of Syndicate President Mohammed Baalbaki, himself a recipient of a scholarship when he used to be a student at AUB.
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Makkawi said that 2005 will be busy with fundraising events, the first of which will involve singer Majida el-Roumi in a concert on June 28, 2005, the proceeds of which will go to scholarships. "We are grateful for this special lady's support," he said, noting that el-Roumi donated her concert for free. The committee also plans to hold its annual fundraising dinner in the fall.
Over the past four years, the number of students benefiting from financial aid grew from 1,591 recipients in 1999-2000 to 2,135 students in 2003-04, but Waterbury wants to aim even higher.
"We have increased our financial aid budget several folds in the past few years," he said. "But we all know we are not doing enough-not by a long shot."
Currently, about 30 percent of the student body receives some kind of financial aid. But Waterbury noted that in order to keep AUB's doors open to "all those smart, bright students" in Lebanon and the region, the university needs to start spending $15 million dollars a year on financial aid.
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"There's a lot of talent out there that can't come to us for the simple reason that they can't afford our tuition," he said.
Waterbury also highlighted student contributions to fundraising for scholarships, noting that a three-year-old campaign called Fingerprints which is the brainchild of Office of Development Director Imad Baalbaki, has reaped excellent results.
The campaign which counts on graduating senior students to contribute $20 or more as a way to "leave their fingerprints on the University," succeeded in attracting 30 percent of seniors to contribute in its first year. But the results of the third year were even more amazing to Waterbury, since about half of the senior class contributed to the scholarship fund, although these students had not "even landed their first job."
"These students understand, you understand that they are building the future, not only of AUB, but of the region," he said.
That's why Makkawi called on AUB's 44,000 alumni to donate toward the scholarship fund, saying: "If each one donates $100, we would raise $4.4 million right away."
Nursing student Diana Ohanian (BSN 4) who participated in the news conference, agreed, thanking the university for granting her a scholarship. "We thank the university...so that our turn would come to participate in realizing the dream of the next generation of those seeking education and knowledge. And is there anything more beautiful than the contagion of giving?" she said.
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