GOING OUTSIDE AUB’S WALLS
OPENING CEREMONY
October 1, 2007
President John Waterbury

Welcome to you all and to a new year in the life of AUB. Despite the uncertainties facing Lebanon and the region, we have a record number of students registering at AUB this year. We are welcoming our first PhD students since many years. We are continuing to provide a quality of education that is unrivaled in this region.

I would like to welcome and introduce to the audience some special guests. Several trustees are currently visiting AUB, and with me on the stage today is the Chairman of the Board, Dr. Thomas Morris. Also with us today is Dr. Khalil Makkawi, President of the Board of Directors of the World Wide Alumni Association of the AUB. I am pleased to see in the audience Dr. Abd al-Moneim Ariss, the mayor of Beirut and Kamal Rubeiz, the mukhtar of Ras Beirut. Let me also introduce Steve Kenny, AUB’s new Vice President for Finance, Len Nardone, the Associate Dean for University Sports, and Rania Murr Coordinator of Foreign Students in the Dean of Students office.

We are blessed to have forty eight new faculty members joining our ranks this year. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is receiving thirty-one of them, the Faculty of Medicine six, the Olayan School of Business four, the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture three, the Faculty of Health Sciences three, and the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences one.

Read John Waterbury’s Speech during the Opening Ceremony 2007 ( pdf - opens in new window)