American Univesity of Beirut

​​​​​The unprecedented scale of destruction of the July 2006 War in Lebanon created a remarkable momentum to volunteer-for-relief among the AUB community and founded a calling that led to a university "Task Force for Reconstruction". After two years of decentralized and sporadic efforts, the Task Force realized the imperative of establishing the Center for Civic Enagement and Community Service (CCECS) in 2008, and to ​promulg​​ate this concept within the university’s strategic plan. 

Positioning​ AUB as a civic convener and responder to societal conflicts and challenges while realizing the potential of university students as change makers in local and global contexts. 

Leveraging​ operational research, campus community, and socially responsive partnerships to tackle the most pressing societal challenges facing Lebanon, and beyond. This is reflected in four cross-cutting tenets:

1. Community Action Program (CAP)
2. General Education through Civic Engagement
3. Community Development Projects (CDP)
4. Refugees' Track​

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As a testament to the extensive community involvement of AUB students and faculty, AUB, repr​esen​​ted by the CCECS, was ranked as the Most Civically Engaged University Campus in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) by Ma'an Alliance ​for Arab Universities in late 2015. In 2016, the Talloires Network awarded AUB first place in the 2016 MacJannet Prize for Global Citizenship for CCECS’s Syria Relief Project. The Digital Skills Training Program won the MIT Enterprise Forum ‘Innovate for Refugees’ Award​ in 2017. The Ghata Project received the Learn by Design Honorary Award at South-by-SouthWest (SXSW) EDU​, was shortlisted for the WISE Awards​ for high impact projects providing solutions to 21^st century education challenges, and was awarded the Fritz Redlich Human Rights Award​ from Harvard University in 2018.  ​​​​​​